Falling Apart
by Ang3l S0ng
Summary: Follow Asa as this ambitious girl tries to become the worlds best photographer. She's not going to let a little thing like being sent into the One Piece world mess with her dream! Right? But what happens when she begins to get powers that she doesn't understand? Will she have to leave the Straw hats in order to protect them? From herself? The Darkness is making its move. OCxLuffy!
1. The Storm

**Ang3l: Well hey there everyone! Or no-one... **_  
_

**Asa: Well there's that self confidence-_-**

**Ang3l: Urm... right sorry! Okay so this is your average OC falls into One Piece kinda fanfiction. You don't have to read if you don't like it but I'd appreciate it!**

**Asa: And leave a review while your at it! **

**Ang3l: Let's not demand things from the readers on the first chapter, Asa.**

**Asa: *Pouts* Fine... Oh yeah! Ang3l S0ng does NOT own One Piece-**

**Ang3l: *mumbles* No matter how much she wants to...**

**Asa: - but she does have copyright over me! Which worries me sometimes.**

**Ang3l: *Evil Giggle* On with the story! **

**Chapter I**

**The Storm**

_"Hey Kyal?" I asked the boy that stood beside me._

_"Yeah?"_

_"What's the meaning of life?" He gave me a side glance before looking back at the calmly rippling water. _

_"What do you mean?" he asked, sticking his hands in the pockets of his worn jeans. _

_"Well… why is there life? Why is it that I wake up every day? I just… I don't understand, what's my reason for living?" I clarified scuffing my feet through the soft sand. _

_Kyal turned and looked at me, giving me a calculating stare before taking my face in his hands. "No one can know that but you." He told me. I frowned at the lack of an answer, causing him to smile. "Someday everything will make perfect sense. But for now just remember to laugh at the confusion and smile through the tears. Keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason." _

_I nodded dumbly, captivated by his wise words. We lean in closer to each other. So close I could feel his warm breath on my lips. I stare into his warm brown eyes and-_

"ASA! Get outta bed you lazy midget!"

Yep. And there was Uncle Garrett, right on time with the early wake-up call.

I scowled sleepily at the nick name. I really wasn't that short! I was normal height for my age; everyone else around here is just freakishly tall.

Getting up, I proceeded to go through the regular morning routine of getting dressed-in a pair of jeans and a grey tank top- and going downstairs for breakfast. I entered the kitchen and saw my Aunt cooking up some bacon and eggs while my Uncle sat at the table drinking his morning cup of coffee. "Ah! She finally rises!" my Aunt exclaims turning away from the sizzling foods, wiping her greasy hands off on her apron.

"Oh please," I said rolling my eyes "I didn't sleep for that long."

"Long enough." My Uncle ground out "It's almost 7:30."

I faked a stunned expression. "Wow! You mean I got to sleep in for a whole half hour?"

"Watch your tone midget!" He scowled.

"Sorry _Grandpa._" I sat down at the table, resting my chin in my hand.

"Asa," I turned at the sound of my name. "Your Uncle and I have something we want to talk to you about." I furrowed my brow in confusion. Jeez I just woke up and I was already getting a lecture?

"It's about that storm today…" I jumped up at the mention of the storm. My mood turning from tired and annoyed to instant excitement.

"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot that's today!" I turned around and ran back up to my room, ignoring the calls from my Aunt. I huge smile adorned my face as I grabbed my very expensive, water-proof camera off my bedside table, throwing the strap around my neck. Scuttling through the mess on my floor I went to my dresser and grabbed 4 extra batteries, a solar charger and a couple different camera lenses. Putting them all into a water-proof backpack (I didn't want the rain to ruin anything) that I threw over my shoulders.

When I came back downstairs, my Aunt had set out the plates on the table. She took note of my gear and frowned. "Where are you going?"

"I want to get some shots of the beach before the storm hits! Ya know, like a before and after thing." I grabbed a piece of bacon off of the plate intended for me and jogged my way to the door. Just as I put my hand on the door knob, my Uncle's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"We are forbidding you from going to the coast today." His voice was firm and final, telling me there was no room for argument. I turned around slowly to see my Aunt looking anywhere but at me and my Uncle taking another gulp of his coffee.

"What?" I asked quietly, questioning whether I heard right or not.

"We've been listening to the news. The storm has gotten bigger, it's a hurricane now. It's too dangerous for you to be out there." My Uncle explained in a calm voice that I rarely heard him use.

"But… I've been waiting for this for weeks! This could be the shot of a life time! Seriously, we're talking 50 foot waves! I can't pass up an opportunity like that!" My voice grew louder with every sentence.

How could they do this? They knew how much this meant to me!

"Honey, we understand but no picture is worth your life." My Aunt tried to console, putting her hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off roughly, glaring at her.

"No! I don't think you do understand!"

"ASA! I mean it. You are not going out today and that's final. Now go to your room!"

I turned my glare to my Uncle. "Make me." I hissed. Before they had time to react I was already out the door. I didn't stop running. Not even when my lungs started burning and a stitch tore at my side. Tears poured down my cheeks and I blinked to try and clear my cloudy vision. How could they do this? They knew that it was my dream to become the greatest photographer in the world, to take the most amazing pictures that anyone has ever set their eyes on! It was my dream. It was _our_ dream…

I finally stopped running, the need to catch my breath finally winning over. Looking around I finally realized that I had made it to the coast. I wiped my tears away and looked at the sky. The clouds were dark and ominous. In the distance it appeared that the clouds were almost resting on the raging waters, rolling and tumbling in what looked like unnatural ways.

Seeing a perfect picture opportunity I lifted my camera from where it rested against my stomach and looked through the sight. It was a digital camera but I preferred using the sight instead of the screen. I positioned the frame to where I wanted it, making sure to get the clouds and the ocean in the view, before pushing down on the snapshot button.

The familiar click sounded and I rested the camera back on my stomach. I had a rule that I liked to follow when it came to taking pictures. I only took one picture of a subject; I never took more than one because I figured if I wanted to be the best, I should be able to take the best on the first try. Besides, it was a pain to go through a bunch of the same pictures and try to find which is better.

Suddenly a thought came to me. My Aunt and Uncle would surely be looking for me and this would probably be the first place they'd come. I turned around and made my way back into town, figuring that the storm wouldn't start until a bit later anyway. I walked around aimlessly for a while before I felt my stomach growl.

That's right… I didn't get to eat breakfast. With a new goal in mind I made my way to the grocery store in search of food.

I entered through the automatic doors and looked around, the place was pretty empty. Everyone was probably at home, preparing for the storm. I went around the store and picked up some things I wanted.

When I left, my backpack was full of foods and snacks such as a 500mL bottle of Coke(1), 2 apples, a pack of gum and a jar of pickles. Strange combo, but I didn't plan on eating them all right way. Well... I also really like pickles...

I wandered more around town and munched on an apple, which I finished and threw in the garbage.

After another half hour of walking it finally started to rain so I made my way to the docks. Upon arriving, I realized that the scary dark clouds were a lot closer now than they were before I took out my camera and attached a special lens meant to keep the rain off. Looking through it, I adjusted the position of the camera looking for the perfect shot. After a few minutes I sighed, this wasn't right. I needed a better angle.

Looking around the docks I noticed a wooden dingy tied to the end of the dock, it was thrashing around wildly in the turbulent waters. Biting my lip I looked between it and my camera.

Was it worth it?

My Aunt's words flashed through my thoughts, _"No picture is worth your life."_

But was my dream worth my life? Yes.

_What's life without a little risk?_

Without a second thought I ran to the boat, careful not to slip on the wet wood of the dock. I jumped in and untied the rope, letting the boat drift quickly away from land. The waves thrashed me around but I battled to still myself as I drifted closer to the storm.

The rain had amounted into a torrential downpour, aiding the waves in filling my boat with water. I was soaking wet and my hands were shivering but I willed them to stop.

I grabbed onto the side of the boat. That's when I realized, I had a huge problem.

I had no oars. Meaning I had no way to paddle back to shore.

With every passing second, more water filled the boat, until it was almost ankle deep. The rain pierced my skin like a thousand needles and obscured my vision. Suddenly the thrashing stopped for a moment but I could feel the boat being pulled quickly out to sea.

The undertow. As soon as the thought struck me I realized that with an undertow this large that would mean…

I turned around quickly, my chestnut colored hair whipping around in the gale sized winds.

Towering over me was a wave. A monster wave, that had to be at least 80 feet high. I lifted my camera to my face. I had to get this shot. I clicked the button, not really getting much time to position the view. I dropped my camera against my stomach. My eyes widen and I let loose a terrified scream before everything went black.

Little did I know, this very moment was the beginning.

The beginning of everything falling apart.

**Ang3l: So that's it for now! Hoped you liked it!**

**Asa: And if you didn't we really don't care. Keep the flames to yourself please!**

**Ang3l: Right... Let me no what you think!**

**Asa: Oh! And all you Luffy lovers out there, he comes in next chapter, with the other strawhats of course;)**

**Ang3l: Luffy!? Where!?**

**Asa: Oops... here we go again...**

**Ang3l & Asa: Until next time folks!**


	2. Death

**Asa: Hello again! **

**Ang3l: So here is another chapter for you awesome people out there!**

**Asa: Specifically Outcast001 and pizzafan123. Thank you for the great reviews, Ang3l and I now know this story is getting at least some attention. *High fives Ang3l***

**Ang3l: But lets not get too excited yet. This is only the second chapter! I don't really know how I did in this one so some opinions would be great.**

**Asa: And before we forget, Outcast001 has asked for the possibility of other OC's in this story. **

**Ang3l: Right! And to that I say, if you have any ideas of an OC you want to see in this story, send in a review or PM with the info you think I would need to know about a character you want and I will see what I can do! This applies to everyone by the way:) I may not be able to include all of them if a lot of people start asking or they may only play a small part in the story but I'll work it out.**

**Asa: Enough jabbering! On with the story!**

**Ang3l: Yeah, yeah... I don't own One Piece or Coca Cola (Which I forgot to mention last time)**

**Chapter II**

**Death**

I really hadn't expected to wake up. But when I did there was nothing. I saw nothing, I felt nothing, there was just… nothing. I was completely dry, which was odd for having just been in a storm. My backpack and camera were gone leaving me with only my worn blue jeans and black V-neck T-shirt. I wasn't even wearing socks or shoes.

I was dead.

I had to be.

I knew this, and yet I was still quite calm regardless. I didn't feel scared or upset.

In the white nothingness around me black smoke started to form on the ground. It swirled and twirled until it created a human figure in a long robe. The hood was up and the person face was tipped at an angle that wouldn't allow me to see any features.

"I'm dead." I spoke up, my voice sounding clear and concise.

The figure nodded slowly.

"Are you Death?"

Another nod.

"So then, what happens now?"

"You are still needed by the gods. I have been ordered to send you back." Death said, his voice sounding too familiar for my likings.

"Send me back?"

"Yes. But not to your world. You are needed somewhere else."

"What about Aunt Terra and Uncle Garrett?"

"They will continue to live their lives, you will have connections with them from time to time, though it might hurt."

I could only nod, not really sure how to take this all in.

"To live again will be quite the adventure." I said. I swear I saw a small smile on his lips from under the hood. Suddenly the white area surrounding us started to crack and crumble. Death started to fade away and my vision got blurry.

Just before I completely passed out, a voice echoed through my mind. "If you every want to escape this ridiculous biological paradox that is reality, you must choose between insanity or death. Your journey will be a tough one. Good luck, Asa."

Everything hurt. My throat was dry and swore and my eyes burned.

Where was I? Was what happened real? Did I really die?

My senses slowly came back and voices broke through my foggy thoughts.

"Is she okay?"

"What was she doing in the water?"

"She must be a mermaid!"

"Mellorine~!"

"Idiot! She's not a mermaid, mermaids have tails!"

"Qwauck!"

"Is she breathing?"

I groaned in annoyance. These people were too loud! Wait… people? I thought I was dead? That's when I suddenly remembered what the man in the cloak had said. I bolted upright, coughing and gagging on the water that was trying to leave my body. I felt a hand placed on my back and slowly rubbing circles, comforting me just as my Aunt would've if I was sick or upset.

I slowly recovered from my coughing fit and opened my eyes, looking around. The first, obvious thing I noticed was that I was on a ship, not a huge one but it was notably bigger than the dingy I was previously in. The second thing I noticed was the people surrounding me. They all seemed to be roughly my age, if not a little older.

"Sanji! Go get her some water." The red haired women who was kneeling beside me, one hand on make back and one on my shoulder, supporting me, ordered to a blonde man with a swirly eyebrow who seemed a little too eager to fulfill the request.

"Yes Nami-swaaaan!" He exclaimed, dashing off. The red head, or Nami, looked over at me again.

"Are you alright?" She asked with a worried frown.

"Y-yeah" I responded hoarsely. Sanji came back with a glass of water and I chugged it down in no time, enjoying the moist feeling as I did. Handing the glass back, I took in the other people.

There was a scary looking guy with three swords and green hair, a long nosed boy wearing a bandana and overalls and a boy with raven hair peeking out from under his straw hat and a curved scar under his left eye. The Straw hat kid was sitting cross legged not too far away and he had a large grin on his face.

"Where am I?" I spoke up, my voice sounding a lot better.

"You're on our pirate ship!" Straw hat kid answered. Pirates? I think these people are a few years too late to be pirates. I gave them a strange look but decided to drop it. Still… something about this place seemed unusually familiar…

My thoughts were cut off when a rose was shoved in my face. How did he get a rose? We're in the middle of the ocean! More importantly, where was he keeping it? Actually… I don't wanna know…

"Ah, your beauty rivals even the most gorgeous of flowers. Your blue eyes glisten like the ocean in the sun! I must know your name, fair maiden."

I blinked and blushed, feeling flattered at his kind words. "I-It's Asa." I stuttered, embarrassed.

Before he could continue with his poetic compliments a voice interrupted him. "Oi, Don't scare her off now curly-brow."

Sanji whirled around and glared at the green haired man, proceeding to insult him with some 'moss-head' comments that started a full on fight. Before it could get too serious though, Nami bashed her fist into both of their heads, causing them to drop like flies.

_Yes… very familiar._

I just couldn't place my finger on it though.

"Hi Asa, My name's Nami, this is Vivi and Carue these two are Sanji and Zoro, that's Ussop and-" She introduced, gesturing to each person in turn, only to be cut off by the straw hat kid.

"I'm Luffy! I'm gonna be the king of the pirates!"

…

No. Freaking. Way.

"You don't by any chance mean Monkey D. Luffy, do you?" I asked standing up, hoping to whatever gods out there that this couldn't be true. Much to my dismay though, Luffy nodded excitedly. My shoulders dropped and I visualized the last of my hope being thrown out a window.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me, cosplayers! That had to be it! Just a bunch of very strange people who had nothing better to do with their lives, then to adapt an anime characters way of life.

It did look pretty realistic though…

That's when I noticed my backpack lying on the deck. I gasped and ran over to it, lifting it up and looking around it for any sign of my camera. Quickly unzipping the bag, I shuffled through its contents. It had to be here! It had to! I gasped in excitement when I saw the familiar device at the bottom of the bag. Thank goodness.

I pulled it out, wrapping the strap around my neck.

"Wow! What's that?!" I jumped and fumbled with the camera, almost dropping it, if it hadn't been for the strap.

"Don't scare me like that!" I yelled at Luffy, putting a hand on my chest to calm my beating heart.

"Shishishishi sorry!" I pouted at him, he didn't sound very sorry.

"It's a camera." I told him, turning it on, flipping over the screen and scanning through previous pictures. I needed to make sure I had gotten the one of the storm, otherwise it would have been all for nothing.

"Camara?" He repeated trying to pronounce it. I gave him an odd look. Alright these people were taking their hobby way to seriously.

"Camera. You know, like taking pictures?" I was met with a blank stare.

"Oh! Wow, I've never seen one so high-tech before!" Ussop said, leaning over Luffy's shoulder. "So what were you doing in the ocean anyway?"

"Oh, I was caught in a storm." I said looking back at my pictures, I finally reached the one I was looking for and gave it a calculating stare. It wasn't bad… especially considering the rough conditions I took it in. The picture perfectly captured the ominous feeling that the black clouds portrayed, the rain streaked across the image in a direction that showed just how strong the wind actually was and the water was a still version of the 80 foot wave that had brought my demise.

I turned the camera around and showed Ussop the image, he gasped. "You survived that?!" His exclamation brought the rest of the crew's attention to us and they came over to see the picture. They all had similar reactions.

I nodded, turning the camera back to myself and flipping through more pictures. I stopped when I noticed one that I had taken not a week before. It was an image of me holding up a new poster I had bought, the picture itself was taken by my Aunt. On the poster was none other than Monkey D. Luffy himself, smiling away like he didn't have a care in the world. I frowned and looked up at the Luffy standing before me.

I blinked and he blinked back. I looked back at the picture and back at him.

I changed the settings on my camera and raised it up, looking through the sight and pointing it a Luffy. "Hey, Luffy? What's your dream again?" I asked as I flipped the flash on.

"Ah! To be the king of the pirates!" His face lit up and he gave a wide grin, resting his hand on his hat.

_Perfect_

I snapped the picture before he could move.

Luffy blinked and rubbed his eyes at the bright flash. When his sight cleared I held up the picture for him to see. He grinned and laughed. I flipped through the pictures again, going back and forth between the poster Luffy and this Luffy. They were exactly the same!

But how could this be…

_I have been ordered to send you back._

_Send me back?_

_Yes. But not to your world. You are needed somewhere else._

Okay, calm down. Don't go all fan-girl on them. Breath in, breath out. It's nothing special, you were just sent into your favorite anime in history, and now have a legit picture of Monkey D. Luffy that was neither drawn nor found on the internet. No biggy.

…

Oh who am I kidding!

"S-so where are you all heading?" I asked after a few moments of calming my inner fan-girl. No need to tackle anyone right now. I figured since they had Vivi with them it had to be either to Little Garden, Drum Kingdom or Alabasta. But considering Nami looked as healthy as ever I could rule out Drum. Also, by the fact that I couldn't see Chopper anywhere, it was safe to rule out Alabasta as well. So that left…

Little Garden.

_Great._

"Well right now, we're trying to get Vivi back home to Alabasta, so we're following the log pose." Nami explained to me. I nodded in understanding and turned to Vivi.

"It's an honor to meet you princess Vivi." I greeted bowing at the hip.

"Ho-how did you know I was a princess?" Vivi asked embarrassed. I stood up straight and gave her a warm smile.

"Let's just say I'm familiar with this area… and most of the grand line. But by the way you're going, you must be headed to Little Garden then."

"That's right."

It didn't take very long for everyone to get accustomed to me being on the ship. Not to say that they trusted me just yet, but Nami was kind enough to share some of her older clothes with me while my other ones dried. When I was through changing, I walked out on deck, still barefoot (having turned down Nami's offer of shoes. I liked it this way better for some reason.) and sporting a dark blue T-shirt and simple jean shorts.

I scanned the deck, taking in what each person was doing. Zoro seemed to be napping but I could tell he was keeping a close eye on me, Nami went to tend to her orange trees, Vivi was relaxing on a beach chair, Sanji, I assumed, was in the kitchen and Luffy and Ussop just looked plain bored.

I smirked and walked over to where I left my bag. Crouching down I opened it up and pulled out my bottle of Coke.

This will entertain them for a bit.

I walked over to where the boys were pouting on the ground and sat with them.

"Hey. Do you want to try something?" I asked, showing the bottle. Ussop looked at me skeptically, taking in the red and white label. He probably thought I would poison him or something.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Where I'm from, it's called pop." I knew that this world had Cola, considering Franky drank it all the time but I had always assumed it was different from my world's form of the drink, always picturing it to taste kind of like extremely carbonated booze or something.

Luffy took the bottle from my hands and shook it next to his ear causing the contents to slosh around violently. "What's it taste like?"

I took it back from his hands quickly. "Don't shake it up!"

I gently set the bottle in between all of us and reached to untwist the red cap. Ussop and Luffy watched my every move attentively. The moment I popped the seal on the bottle, the cap shot out of my hand and into the air, followed by a fountain of Coke flying out of the bottle and spilling on the deck. When the liquid calmed down and resettled at the bottom of the bottle, I noticed at least a quarter of the beverage had spilled.

Luffy and Ussop were silent for a moment, staring wide eyed at the bottle.

"That was awesome!" They exclaimed, simultaneously. I laughed and took a swig of the drink before passing it to Ussop. He took the bottle hesitantly, despite his earlier excitement. Glancing back at me and noticing I hadn't dropped dead yet he took a gulp as well.

The moment the drink was in his mouth he winced and all most spit it out but forced himself to swallow it. He coughed and stuck out his tongue.

"Did it not taste good?" Luffy asked confused.

"It… felt weird, almost… fuzzy?" The sniper looked at me for an explanation. I returned with a shrug.

"It's supposed to be like that."

He passed the bottle to Luffy who took a gulp too. He blinked and looked at me.

"It burned the back of my throat…"

I raised an eyebrow at the two. "So, neither of you liked it then? Oh well, more for me." I reached to take the bottle from Luffy. The straw hat wearing boy yanked the bottle from my reach. "Are you kidding? It was delicious!" I looked at him with wide eyes, knowing what was coming.

"Luffy…" I said in a warning tone. In quick succession he shot me a grin and bolted across the deck. "Hey!"

"Oi, Luffy! I want some more too!" I heard Ussop call as I took off, chasing the rubber idiot. I saw him take another drink as he banked right, going around the mast. After multiple laps of the deck, Luffy had finally finished the bottle and I was out of breath. Putting my hands on my knees in exhaustion, I watched Luffy walk up to me with a content smile on his face.

He handed the empty bottle back to me, laughing. "You know, there is such thing as sharing right?" I said, glaring at him.

He just shrugged at me. Ussop finally caught up looking equally pissed off. "Luffy! That wasn't fair!"

"We can always buy some more." He said, looking over at me. I shook my head.

"Actually we can only get this stuff from my home town."

"Oh well then we'll just get some when we drop you off at your home." Luffy said. I frowned.

"I-It's alright, I can get home on my own. I just need a boat." I told him. I really didn't want to stay here too long, who knows what I might screw up in the plot line! Besides, Luffy would never ask me to join his crew. I wasn't really all that special or exciting. Even though I did love being here, I couldn't make them stray away from their goals right now. Vivi didn't need more setbacks than what she would be getting.

"Hmm, well if you're sure." I nodded.

"We might have to wait until the next inhabited island though. We don't have any extra boats right now." Ussop said. So at the latest, I could sail with them until they reached Alabasta. That is to say that Drum Kingdom didn't have any boats for me to take. Well I guess I could live with that…

A few hours later we finally reached Little Garden.

"So this is Little Garden." Luffy said, as we sailed down a river that cut through the island.

"What the hell do they mean by 'little'?" Zoro asked, taking in the huge trees and jungle plants. I stared at the island with growing excitement. It was one thing to see this in the anime but to see it in real life was… thrilling!

"It doesn't look nearly as cute as its name…" Nami said, sounding disappointed.

"This is like unexplored territory! An untamed jungle!"

"Ah come on Ussop! Where's your sense of adventure?" I asked, smiling at the shaking teen.

"We have to be careful…" Vivi murmured "I'm still concerned about what Miss All-Sunday said."

"D-D-Does that mean there's gonna be monsters?!" Ussop started shaking harder and if I didn't know him, I would have thought he was having a seizure.

"Who knows." The captain said, uncaring.

"Let's just go to the next island without stopping here!"

"That's not how it works on the Grand Line Ussop." I chipped in.

"Right," Nami agreed. "We need time to set the Log."

"That, and it's about time we picked up some provisions. We didn't get to stock up at the last town." Sanji explained.

Nami walked over to the railing and pointed out at the forest ad we passed by. "Take a look at those plants. Those aren't in any botany book I've ever seen."

Nami and Ussop screeched and covered their ears at the sound of a loud caw. Sanji making some sort of comment about Nami being cute.

"What was that?" Nami exclaimed looking around nervously. Sanji began spouting nonsense about how he would protect her and didn't notice the over-sized bird coming up behind him, claws bared.

"Sanji! Look out!" I ran over and shoved the unaware cook out of the way. The bird swooped down, one of its claws catching my upper arm. I shrieked when my feet were no longer touching the deck and I was hanging from the large talon, 20 feet in the air.

"ASA!"

I tore at the bird, trying to pry the claw off of my shoulder. I suddenly felt something strange. Something… dark. My eyes started to burn but instead of feeling pain I found myself enjoying it. As if second nature, I moved my hand in a motion similar to picking something up. Bellow me I witnessed the water from the river shift until a small stream was flying in my direction. The bird circled the ship, unaware of the eminent danger.

With a violent flick of the wrist, the once snake like stream morphed into a spear. Another flick and the spear was racing towards the bird, striking right through its foot. The bird squawked and released its hold on me. My arms flailed as I fell through the air, screaming.

SPLASH

My head broke the surface and I gulped in air. "ASA! Are you alright?" I swam to the shore and climbed up the bank.

"Y-yeah, just a bit spooked." I called back. Little did I know, while I was a bit pre-occupied with the bird, the straw hats had contemplated my reason for saving someone I hardly knew and putting my life in danger in the process. They were startled out of their thoughts when the bird gave a loud screech and the next thing they knew, I was hurdled into the water.

All this took place in no more than a few seconds.

By the relieved sighs and lack of excited questions from Luffy, I had assumed that they didn't see my little water trick. I looked down at my hands, noticing that my eyes didn't burn anymore. How did I do that? I didn't eat a Devil's Fruit did I? No… I wouldn't have been able to swim out of the river.

I remembered noticing a startling fact, as the water spear was flying towards the bird and I.

The water wasn't its clear, if slightly blue color anymore.

It was pitch black.

**Asa: Wow... That was a bit of a long one.**

**Ang3l: I try:)**

**Asa: And what was with attacking me with a bird!?**

**Ang3l: That was cool right! Here watch me do it again! *Whistles***

**Asa: W-wait wha-! *Get's carried off by massive bird* Curse you!**

**Ang3l: Ah... The joys of being an author;)**

**Until next time!**


	3. (The Not So) Little Garden

**Ang3l: And we are back with some more 'Falling Apart'! You all seem to be enjoying this story so far and for that I am glad:)**

**Asa: Ang3l was telling me about how much progress she made on this story today and she decided to reward you awesome peeps with another chapter.**

**Ang3l: Yep! Also, thank you to Outcast001 for the OC! I loved the character! And thank you for the amount of info you gave me, it'll help me write about her:)**

**Asa: So when do I get to meet this new character then? **

**Ang3l: I'm thinking... in Alabasta. How does that sound to you Outcast001? **

**Asa: Well anyway can we get on with the story? I want to see what happens to me!**

**Ang3l: I'm going, I'm going! I do not own one piece! **

**Please enjoy!**

**Chapter III**

**(The Not So) Little Garden**

The straw hats began maneuvering the Merry to where I stood, sopping wet.

Again.

BOOM

What sounded like a loud explosion shook the ground, making me fall on my butt. Turning around my eyes wide in horror as the biggest freaking tiger I had ever seen before emerged from the forest and growled menacingly at me and the ship.

"I have crappy luck." I muttered, slowly backing up. Luckily the tiger seemed more fixed on the bigger prey, which happened to be the Going Merry. Just as it looked about ready to pounce it suddenly coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground. Dead. Blood splattered, just barely missing me.

After multiple shouts of confusion and shock from the crew, they finally found a place to drop anchor. In which I quickly climbed back on board. "That. Was. Horrifying." I exclaimed.

That was probably the most exciting thing to happen to me, besides the storm. Considering that I grew up in a harbor town with absolutely no friends whatsoever, I was having a blast.

Luffy's excited laughter brought a smile to my face. I knew what was going to happen.

"Sanji, lunchbox!"

"Lunchbox?"

"Yeah, to recharge my power! A TON of meat and NO vegetables! A PIRATE Lunchbox! I smell an adventure!"

Nami ran in front of her captain with a shocked expression. "N-Now hold on a second, you! Where do you think you're going?"

The reply was instantaneous. "On an adventure!"

I laughed joyfully, drawing attention to myself. "Make that TWO lunchbox's please!"

Nami looked at me in horror. "You too! But you were nearly killed by those creatures! Are you crazy?" I held out my thumb and forefinger in a pinching position but not touching each other.

"A little bit."

Nami turned away, comical tears pouring from her and Ussop's eyes.

"Lunchbox's!" Luffy and I yelled together.

Sanji smiled and headed for the kitchen. "I heard you. Gimme a minute."

Luffy and I danced around, arms over each other's shoulders, excited for a new adventure. Even though I already knew what was going to happen I was still bursting with anticipation.

"Hey, is it okay if I go with you?" Vivi asked all of the sudden. Ussop gasped in horror.

"Yeah, c'mon! Let's go!" Luffy cheered while I nodded vigorously.

After Vivi explained that she'd rather be doing something than sitting around depressed, to two very distraught crew members, Sanji came out with the food in backpacks.

Sanji walked over to me and gave me a yellow bag, that he helped me secure on my back. "Asa-chwan! I made your lunch with all my love!" I grinned at him.

"Thanks, Sanji. I can't wait to try your food!"

"Sanji's food is the best!" Luffy informed me as I hopped up on the side of Merry with him.

"Is it that good?"

As Luffy went into grueling details that made me start drooling, I was half aware of Sanji strapping a little container of his special drink around Carue's neck (who didn't really have a choice of coming) and Vivi making herself comfortable on the ducks saddle.

In no time, we were ready to go and Luffy wrapped an arm around my waist before jumping off the ship and running into the forest. He let me go and I ran beside him, keeping pace easily. Looking back I made sure Vivi and Carue were right behind us.

After a while of running we came across a small stream. Something seemed to catch Luffy's eye and he skidded to a halt. He waded into the stream a bit.

"Hey look! Check this thing out!" He pointed to a grey snail-squid thing. "It looks like a squid with a shell." He reached in and picked it up. Vivi and I leaned in closer to get a better look.

"A Shell Squid."

"It looks just like an ammonite." Vivi said.

"It's a Shell Squid." Luffy insisted. I giggled as I watched its little tentacles wriggle around in the air.

Suddenly the ground shook and two loud thuds sounded. Luffy dropped the Shell Squid and looked around. I thought for a moment. _Wasn't there…_

"H-Hey!" I yelled after Vivi and Luffy who had taken off toward the sound.

Looking up, we were met with the sight possibly the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.

_Yep… Dinosaurs._

"A DINOSAUR!" Vivi gasped in shock.

"A DINOSAUR!?"

"SO COOL!"

"Then… this must be one of the Prehistoric Islands!" Vivi went ahead and explained how the islands have different types of ages and some evolve faster than others. I ignored her, running around with my camera at the ready, looking for the perfect picture. It's nothing I haven't heard already.

"Awesome!" I heard Luffy shout. He rocketed passed me, clinging onto the long neck of the beast.

"DON'T CLIMB ON IT!"

"Ahahahahaha!" I laughed cheerfully, clutching my stomach.

"What a great view!" Luffy's voice echoed from where he now sat on the dino's head. "Hey! Asa, you have to see this!" Luffy shot his rubbery arm down to me and I grabbed his hand. My feet left the ground and I flew up to him, cheering the whole way.

"That was fun!"

I took in the view around us. It was absolutely amazing!

"How can you be so carefree?" Vivi called up to us from the ground. I looked down at her.

"Ah, c'mon Vivi! Loosen up! I thought you came with us so you _weren't _worrying!"

I didn't get a reply.

"Wow, so there really are volcanoes here." I turned to see where Luffy was looking and sure enough there were at least 6 huge volcanoes all billowing dark grey smoke. And to the left of it was a large mountain with enormous caves, as Luffy also pointed out.

"Hey Luffy, stand over there." I told him, raising my camera to my eye. The action told him exactly what I was going to do and he positioned himself in front of the scenery. He posed with one hand on his hip and one extended out towards me, giving the peace sign. He was perfectly placed so the mountain, volcanoes and the heads of the dinosaurs poking through the trees were all in the shot. "Alright," I said, having everything set the way I wanted. "Say 'Meat'"

He laughed. "Meat!"

_Click_

I was just about to show him the picture when Vivi interrupted. "It's dangerous up there! Come down here this instant! Even though it's docile now, it's still a dinosaur!"

"It's okay, he doesn't mind!" Luffy called back, waving his arm. "More importantly, there's a big hollow mountain over there! Sure is some strange terrain!"

"The terrain doesn't matter! Just get down here!" I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, alright don't get yer nickers in a twist."

I jumped and slid down the animal's long neck. "Wheeeeee!" When I got to the slope of his back I was flung in the air. Doing a back flip, I landed neatly in a crouch beside Vivi. _Wow, who knew I could do that!_

BONK

"Oww…" I moaned, rubbing the spot where Vivi had clonked me on the head.

"You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"I was fine, Luffy wouldn't have let me die." That shut her up. It was true, I may have only known them for the better part of a couple hours but I hadn't done anything to challenge their trust. Luffy had no reason to want me dead so he wouldn't let me die. That simple.

We watched as Luffy played with the dinosaurs. There were more now because Luffy had accidently hurt the one we had been on and that didn't please the rest of its herd. He jumped from head to head, evading the beast's jaws as they tried to bite him. He jumped onto one of the highest ones, also the one with the most scars, and promptly got eaten.

"Ahahahahahaha!"

"He did _not _just get eaten! Why the hell are you laughing?"

"Luffy'll be fine, he's got the luck of the Devil." I said giggling. She looked at me suspiciously.

"How could you possibly know that? We just met you today!"

I grinned at her. "Can I tell you a secret?" Not waiting for an answer, a put a hand around my mouth as if preventing anyone else from hearing it despite us being alone. "I know the future."

Her face?

_Priceless._

"B-But… wha… how?" Instead of answering her question, I decided to enlighten her in another way.

"Ya know, spinning pumpkins make very deadly cake decorations."

"…"

We were interrupted when the largest man I have EVER seen sliced through the neck of the dinosaur, consequentially freeing Luffy. Dorry caught Luffy in his hand and watched as the dinos ran away.

"Giagagagagaga! I was watching you! You were playing with the Long Necks in the jungle. What a lively little human! It's been a long time since I've had a guest."

Luffy said something that we couldn't hear from this distance.

"You're asking if I'm human? Giagagagagaga! I, AND I ALONE, AM ELBAF'S MIGHTIEST WARRIOR, DORRY! Giagagagagagaga!" He laughed heartily.

Obviously this was sensory overload for Vivi and Carue, the latter having tipped over on his side unconscious and the other fallen to her knees. Muttering things about giants to herself.

"A pirate?' Dorry replied to something Luffy said. "That's great!"

Vivi broke out of her shock and tried to cox Carue awake. "Let's go! Before it's too late!"

Luffy suddenly spouted out (rather loudly) " Ah, see those guys over there? That's Vivi, Carue and Asa. Say 'Hi' guys." I eagerly waved up to Dorry but Vivi looked a little less thrilled.

"Hey you guys, let me show you my place." Dorry offered.

In no more than a few minutes, we were all sitting at the base of the mountain eating and laughing merrily.

"This is great, Giant-ossan!"

"That little Pirate Lunchbox wasn't too bad, either. Though it was a bit small!"

"You bet!" Luffy said taking a bite out of the huge piece of meat he was sitting on. "That was a special lunch made by my pirate ship's cook. If you'd said it was bad, I'd kick your ass." This elicited another laugh from Dorry.

"Kick my ass?" Vivi stiffened and Carue gapped, letting the drink he was drinking pour from his mouth. I giggled. "What a funny little man!"

"Anyway, Ossan, why are you living alone out here? Don't you have a village or something?"

Dorry's face fell. "Yes I have a village. Elbaf, the Village of Warriors. Somewhere out on the Grand Line. But our village has laws."

"Laws?"

I zoned out at this point preferring to lie on my back and close my eyes. I thought about all that had happened today. I wonder if my aunt and uncle found out about me yet. My stomach turned at the thought of them finding out I was dead. I hadn't even gotten to apologize yet…

I felt myself drift to sleep, lulled by the sound of the conversation around me.

_I opened my eyes to see I wasn't lying on the soft grass of Little Garden anymore but on sand. I stood up and recognized the coast of my home town. How was I back here? Was it all a dream? This doesn't make sense…_

_"Asa!" I heard a voice call. Turning around I saw my aunt and uncle, walking down the beach with their hands cupping their mouths, calling my name. Tears welled up in my eyes. They're here! I can apologize! _

_"Uncle Garrett! Aunt Terra! I'm so sorry, I'm okay!" I waved my hand in the air crying and smiling. My smile dropped however, when neither of them turned towards me. I quickly ran to them. They both looked stressed and worried. My aunt was on the verge of tears and my uncle's eyes were void of any hope. I waved my hands in front of their faces, shouted and screamed. Anything to get them to look at me. "This isn't funny anymore!" I yelled. "I'm sorry okay! I'm so sorry! Just please, stop ignoring me!" _

_Nothing._

_My aunt gasped and her hands came to her mouth to stifle a sob. My uncle had found something. Upon further inspection I saw it was a shoe. _

_My shoe. _

_Floating on the surf lazily was the one sign to my aunt and uncle that I was gone. I felt my heart break when my aunt screamed and threw herself towards the ocean, my uncle grabbing her around the waist to stop her from jumping in and searching for me. _

_"Give her back!" she screamed at the water that had calmed since the storm. "Stop taking my family! What did she do to deserve this?!" My aunt wailed and scratched at my uncle trying to get out of his grasp. _

_She finally gave up and collapsed on the sand, my uncle cradling her shaking form. He was crying too, staring out at the sea with hate in his eyes. I walked over to them, my hand out stretched. "I'm right here…" I tried again with less determination. My hand passed through my uncles shoulder, making me gasp and pull away. _

_I looked at my hand, it started to fade and before I knew it…_

I snapped my eyes open and sat up with a gasp. "Asa! Finally! Are you okay?" Luffy asked, his hands on my shoulders and crouched beside me. I looked at him, tears trailing down my cheeks. My mouth was agape and I was breathing heavily. I looked to see Vivi, Carue and Dorry watching me with worry. "You were crying in your sleep and you didn't wake up when I shook you."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them again I wiped away my tears and gave them a fake smile. "S-Sorry, It was just a bad dream. I'm alright." None of them looked convinced but they dropped it anyway.

"So, what'd I miss?" After being filled in on the fact that I had missed the fight between Dorry and Broggy we all sat down for a drink. I noticed Dorry reaching for the barrel of beer and I quickly jumped up and stopped him. "Wait!"

I jumped between his hand and the barrel, making everyone look at me astonished. "Asa! What are you doing?"

I didn't say anything as I inspected the barrel. Just as I had thought, the seal on the barrel had been broken, a sure sign that it had been tampered with. I paused as my hand reach out. What would this change in the time line if I stopped Dorry from drinking this? I remembered that he and Luffy would get in a fight and then… what after that?

_Man, I really should have paid more attention to this arch! _

I had to do something…

_Dammit this is gonna hurt…_

I smiled at Dorry. "I was just wondering if I could have a little bit first. I'm a bit parched, would that be alright?" I asked in the most polite way I knew how.

Dorry smiled in understanding. "Of course you can! It is your crew's ale after all."

"Actually I'm just a temporary passenger on their ship I'm not a crew member."

_Sadly._

I bit my lip and sucked in a breath, knowing that the pain that was to come was not going to be pleasant. _Here goes._

The moment the top came off the barrel the entire thing exploded just as I expected it to. I was thrown back, slamming into the giant's leg. My skin was charred black and I coughed up some blood. The pain was horrible but I fell back down to the ground with a dull thud. There was a moment of shocked tension. I got to my feet shakily. Everything ached and the faint smell of burnt skin lingered in the air.

"ASA!" I saw Luffy rush over through my blurry vision though his calls were drowned out by the loud ringing in my ears.

"Ouch" I mumbled stumbling forward lucky enough to have Luffy catch me by my forearms to keep me upright, inspecting me for any life threatening injuries.

My hearing came back in time to hear Dorry say "It was you… This ale came from your ship. If this girl hadn't stopped me then it would have exploded in my stomach. You set this up! And now the poor girl is paying for it!"

I groaned. _Okay if this was still just gonna lead to him fighting Luffy then I should have just said that it was tampered with. That just proves how bad I am with quick thinking…_

Vivi tried to convince Dorry that it wasn't the case but he was blind with rage at this point, nothing they said was getting through to him. I pushed away from Luffy, stumbling past him.

"Do what you need to do. We'll keep out of your way." I told him quietly, giving him a small smile. I was just about to make my way to Vivi when I felt something pushed firmly on my head. My eyes widened as I shakily reached a hand up to touch the precious straw hat. I turned to look at Luffy but he already had his attention back on the giant so I just smiled and continued to Vivi.

"You think… You can get away with this!?" The giant lifted his sword and slammed it down on Luffy who jumped out of the way. Vivi and I watched from a safe distance, I had to sit down because of my injuries though.

Luffy attempted to run up the huge sword and preform an attack but was batted away with Dorry's shield.

I could easily tell that Luffy didn't want to fight his friend but he had to end it quickly otherwise someone would get seriously hurt.

Luffy did just that. He was able to bring down the giant with a very strong gum-gum bazooka to the stomach but was accidently crushed under his foot as he fell. I marveled at the strength of the attack. Seeing it in person was nothing like seeing it on a computer screen.

Vivi helped me stand up and we made our way to Luffy who had just sat up from his body shaped hole in the ground. "Luffy! Are you okay?"

I wrapped my arm around my stomach, as that seemed to be where the pain was centered, and I plopped Luffy's hat back on his head.

"I'm pissed. That ale… Just like he said… The other giant didn't do it. And there's no way in hell any one of my nakama would ever do something like this." Luffy stood up and turned to me. "I'm sorry you got hurt, Asa. Are you alright?"

I nodded and offered a smile. "It's cool. Besides I knew the barrel was rigged, I'm just not good with quick thinking so I did the first thing that came to mind. My injuries aren't too bad either, just minor stuff."

Vivi gave me a confused look. "The first thing that came to your mind was to blow yourself up?"

"Yep!"

Viv sweat-dropped and got back to the topic. "But then who-"

"Someone else is here. On this island."

_BOOM BOOM BOOM_

The volcano erupted, signaling the start of the giants scheduled brawl.

As I watched the giant struggle to stand, I couldn't help but think of that dream.

The more I thought, the more everything seemed more real.

The more everything hurt.

The more I could feel myself breaking.

Piece by piece.

**Asa: Wow that was a long one! **

**Ang3l: I know, it took me forever...**

**Asa: So Ang3l came up with a great idea for this story! **

**Ang3l: But to go through with my idea, I'm going to need at least 3 more OC's! They won't be coming in until later so if you have a character you want in the story let me know:) Otherwise I'll have to make them up on my own.**

**Asa: And they won't be good.**

**Ang3l: Hey!**

**Asa: Thanks for reading! Please review, favourite or follow.**

**Ang3l: And if you want a cookie, do all of the above.**

**Until next time!**


	4. Blowing Up (Again) and Doubts

**Asa: You know what I like? **

**Ang3l: What?**

**Asa: The people who have reviewed! And not just them, everyone who has favourited and followed as well!**

**Ang3l: They are pretty awesome aren't they! Okay, so this chapter isn't one of the longest... but I'll make it up to you and make the next one even longer! I've caught up to the amount I've written for this story so far so the updates might be less frequent.**

**Asa: Well there is only so much you can do!**

**Ang3l: I guess... I wasn't to sure about this chapter... I don't know... It felt kind of rushed and I may not have explained everything but it was kinda hard to keep track of all the stuff that was going on in the scene. **

**Asa: If it's really bad then you can just go through and reconstruct it, no biggy.**

**Ang3l: Well I have rambled on enough. Please enjoy and if you don't let me know so I can fix it!**

**Chapter IV**

**Blowing Myself up (again) and Waxy Situations **

I frowned as I walked through the forest by myself. Grumbling each time I would accidentally scratch my arm or face on the unusually sharp branches. How did I even end up here? I mean seriously, it was only a few minutes ago that Dorry got back up to fight his next battle, dropped a mountain on Luffy, Ussop showed up, these weird guys-who I think were Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine- beat the hell out of us and Luffy told me to run because I was the only one who could still walk at the time.

_Wow, that was an eventful few minutes…_

I sighed and bit my lip, continuing to trudge through the foliage. Why did I leave them? I mean, I know Luffy ordered me to go but he isn't my captain so it wouldn't have been breaking any laws if I had disobeyed him… right? I really wanted to be a part of the crew, but how could I expect Luffy to want me to travel with them if I just abandoned them? What kind of a friend does that?

I growled in self anger, tightening my hands into fists. Before I registered what I was doing, my fist flew out and punched the nearest tree with all the power I had. To be honest I really hadn't expected anything to have happened, besides me having a swore hand. To my astonishment, the tree started to turn a rotten black colour. Its bark peeled and fell like wet paper, leaves disintegrating into nothing. I backed away as the now dead tree could no longer hold its own weight and fell, hitting the ground with a hollow thud.

"What. The. Hell." I uttered, completely stunned. It was just like what happened at the river…

Before I could think too much on it, a loud commotion sounded from somewhere to my left.

_I'll worry about this later, Luffy and the others might need my help._

I took off running in the direction of the sound. In no more than 5 minutes I came through a clearing.

Multiple things caught my eye when I looked up.

Luffy standing on some sort of black symbol, a little girl having a picnic, a weird dude with a weird hairdo shaped like a 3, and most of all, a giant spinning pumpkin that was slowly turning Nami, Zoro and Vivi into wax statues.

_Wow they're already at this point? How long was I wandering that damn forest?_

"Man, that was a long run!" I huffed, trying to catch my breath.

"Asa! Hurry, you need to help us!" Nami shouted "There's something wrong with Luffy!"

I gave the giant pumpkin a critical look as if I were assessing it. "Yep. See I told you Vivi! Very deadly indeed…" I ignored Vivi's look of shock as I turned my attention to Luffy.

"Hey, Luffy!" I gave him a wave and ran over to him. No one tried to stop me because Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine ran off to get Ussop and Mr. 3 probably thought I wasn't a threat. _Well boo him..._

"Hi Asa!" He said back, but he had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Okay, let's get right to it. Luffy, promise me you won't save your nakama, no matter what." I said, my hands on my hips.

"WHAT!?" Nami, Vivi and Zoro shrieked.

Luffy looked at me. "No." He said stepping forwards out of the symbol. You have to appreciate reverse psychology sometimes. The moment his foot left the paint he seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had been in. "Huh? I kinda felt weird there for a minute. Oh? Asa? You're here too?" I gave a light smile and waved.

"Luffy! Hurry!" Vivi reminded him.

"Okay, I'll save you guys right now."

I saw it coming before anyone did, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I threw myself between Luffy and Ms. Goldenweek as she tried to paint a symbol on the raven haired boy's back. Instead it was painted on the front of my tank top. Luffy turned around in time to see me bend my head down and start shaking.

"O-Oi Asa? Are you okay?" He was just about to reach for my shoulder when I dropped to my knees, exploding in uncontrollable laughter.

_Really?! Laughter yellow?! Out of all the options! _

"I-I-I… I'm f-f-fine! Ha ha ha ha! J-Just help… them!" I managed through my laughter. Luffy nodded in determination, leaving me to roll around on the grass laughing so hard I thought my lungs would erupt. I noticed Mrs. Goldenweek through my tear filled eyes about to try another trick on Luffy so I rolled in her direction, still laughing, and tripped her. _Ha! I call that attack 'The Steamroller'!_ Her paint splattered uselessly on the grass and the mark on my shirt smudged, relieving me of the horrid laugh attack.

Luffy was just about to attack the pumpkin when Mr. 3 came out of nowhere and grabbed me by the throat, lifting me off the ground. I choked and clawed at the idiot's hand trying to get some oxygen. Really, would I ever get a chance to just freaking breath?! Luffy held back and looked positively livid at the cowardly move. I caught Luffy's gaze and shook my head as best as I could, begging for him to save his friends. They were almost completely covered in wax by now.

"Well Straw hat? What'll it be? This stupid girl or your precious friends?"

Something cold and hard wrapped around my neck in place of Mr. 3's hand. I was raised higher off the ground by a long tendril of wax that was quickly growing over my shoulders. Any longer and I would be just like the others.

"L-Lu—ffy," I managed to choke out. "S-save… t-th-em. I'll b-be fine!" Luffy's expression changed between shock, confusion, anger and determination so fast if I had blinked I would have missed it.

The wax spread around my stomach tightly and I groaned. My lungs burned, begging and pleading for any amount of oxygen to reach them. I couldn't hold out much longer.

Then everything seemed to happen at once. Ussop broke through the tree line riding Carue and shot a flame star at Mr. 3. The attack was so sudden it caused the baroque agent to release me and I dropped to the ground. The wax shattered and I gasped for precious air.

At the same time Luffy had turned back to the giant pumpkin but was attacked by Mr. 5's snot bomb attack… thing.

Luffy then engaged in a fight while Ussop took care of Ms. Valentine.

There had to be something I could do! I looked around and spotted the oil slicked rope that Ussop was supposed to use to burn the cake down. _He must have dropped it. But that didn't happen in the anime_. My breathing came out in short raspy gasps, my throat was swore and dry but I got up and ran to the rope. Grabbing it, I proceeded to circle the cake multiple times, wrapping the rope around it as I went. When I was done with a layer I would climb up and continue on the next one, coughing on the falling wax.

"Hi Nami! Hi Zoro! Hi Vivi!" I said as I passed them. They couldn't hear me but I figured 'why not'.

When I reached the end I looked over at Ussop but he was totally incapacitated by the blonde weirdo who likes lemons.

_Damn it! How am I gonna light this? Mr. 3 is still out from Ussop's fire star... which also didn't happen in the anime..._

…

_I hate coming up with plans… this is gonna hurt… again._

I stood over the tip of the rope and turned towards Luffy's fight.

"Oi! Mr. Exploding Guy!" I yelled over to Mr. 5 gaining the attention of both him and Luffy. "I just wanted to let you know, I think your devil fruit is the dumbest one I've ever heard of. Also Luffy is gonna kick your ass and we will also take down that stupid boss of yours. What was his name? Sir Infantile? Sir Reconcile? Hmm… Oh yes! Now I remember it was Sir Cro-"

"How could you possibly know the identity of our boss!? None of the agents are allowed to know!" He yelled cutting me off.

I shrugged casually. "Maybe I'm just smarter then you."

And that's what did it. Before I could react he flung a ball of snot at me (grossest attack ever by the way) and it exploded when it hit right at my feet. Despite the pain I felt as I was hurtled backwards, I smirked.

The explosion had caught the rope on fire and it now acted like a wick. In no time at all the whole pumpkin tower cake thing-a-ma-jig was up in flames.

_Well according to the plot line the others should make it out just fine. _I thought as I lay on the grass trying to catch my breath because blowing yourself up, having a laugh attack, being choked, running in (big) circles and again blowing yourself up wasn't the healthiest thing for your lungs... or the rest of you for that matter. I was vaguely aware of Nami and Vivi saving Ussop from having his head crushed by Mrs. Valentine and Zoro taking out Mr. 5.

Seeing the Straw hats in real life was so much different than the anime. Especially seeing them fight! The anime didn't do these guys justice!

I thought occurred to me as watched the billowing smoke rise into the sky. _Could I keep doing this? _This whole situation wasn't one to be taken lightly. I nearly died on multiple occasions today, most of which because of stupid ideas… but still. This is just the beginning, if I can't even fight then how am I supposed to get through Drum? And Alabasta? I'll die before I get the chance to find some way home!

But if I left the Straw hats… then… I'd be alone again...

_Okay. I'll do this. The moment we get to Drum Kingdom I'm going to thank the crew for their help and leave. Besides, I've only known them for a little while so it won't be a big deal if I left right? Plus if I stayed then I could hurt one of them._

These strange powers or whatever they were, had been on my mind since we got here. Since the water. I didn't know what was happening to me and that scared me. It scared me more then I'd like to admit.

With my mind made up I groaned and rolled over to stand. Finally having caught my breath I looked around and noticed Luffy was just starting to emerge from the forest with Carue. He must have gone after Mr. 3.

Nami, Zoro, Vivi, Carue, Luffy and Ussop were standing around the two giants. The two giants that I had failed to notice when I first showed up…

Give me some credit though! A lot was going on!

I walked over to stand beside Nami.

"But the reason they initially came to this island was because of me…" Vivi said. Man, I hate showing up in the middle of a conversation.

Nami reached over and pinched Vivi's cheek. "Would you cut that out?" the navigator said.

"She's right, Vivi!" I looked at Luffy who was eating Mrs. Goldenweek's left over crackers with Ussop and Carue. But it wasn't the crackers that made me drool. Luffy was shirtless! Yum...

I mentally slapped myself.

_Jeez stop staring ya pervert!_

I giggled when Luffy and Ussop tried to Kanpai with the crackers, only for them to shatter. Nami flinched and rubbed her stomach. Looking at her, I just realized she wasn't wearing a shirt (am I slow today or what?). I looked down at myself and the shirt Nami lent me was pretty much torn to shreds so I just took it off, leaving me in my black bra.

Zoro also turned his attention to Nami. "What's that?" He asked, regarding the red mark on her stomach.

"It's nothing, just a bug bite." She said dismissively.

"Man, having to wait another year for the log to set to the next island is pretty serious…" The swordsman sighed.

"Yeah it is. I don't think Vivi's country can wait that long." I put in, frowning.

"We are in your debt. There must be some way we can express our gratitude." Broggy said.

Luffy jumped up on a nearby rock and pointed up to the giants. "Okay then, Giant-ossans, do something about our Log!"

Dorry sighed. "The Log is the one thing we can do nothing about."

A familiar voice caught everyone's attention. "Nami-saaaan~! Vivi- chwaaaan~! Asa-chaaaan~! And the rest of you jerks!"

"Oh! Hey Sanji!"

"Everybody's safe, right!? Thank goodness!" The cook said as he walked over to us with his arms wide open, like he was expecting a hug.

Nami sweat-dropped. "Where has he been anyway?"

Sanji noticed Dorry and Broggy and ran up to them, glaring angrily. "Hey are you Mr. 3?" He yelled.

"Um, hey Sanji? How do you know about Mr. 3?" I asked, even though I already knew about his talk with Crocodile.

The moment Sanji turned his eyes on me they turned into hearts.

_Great, back into ero-cook mode._

"Asa! You look as lovely as ever!"

"Really because I feel like I was blown up twice. Oh wait! I was." I deadpanned.

Sanji offered me his jacket but I denied and he gave it to Nami instead. "Well then, I just had a talk with Mr. 0 on the Den Den Mushi."

"The Boss!? You talked to him!?" Vivi exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah. There was this weird-ass hideout in the middle of the jungle. Seems he mistook me for this Mr. 3. So I went ahead and told him I'd finished you guys off."

"So he thinks you're all dead right? That puts you guys at the advantage." I said, not missing the pointed look from Luffy. Apparently he hadn't missed the fact that I didn't include myself.

"Why is it that when nobody's looking for us, we can't leave!?" Ussop complained.

"We can't leave? Do we still have something to do here?" Sanji said then reached into his back pocket. "And after I went through the trouble of bringing you this thing." He pulled out the object and revealed it to be a Log Pose to Alabasta.

Everyone's jaws hit the ground (except for mine).

"It's an Eternal Pose to Alabasta!" Luffy yelled as he, Carue and Ussop jumped around cheering. Everyone else had a ridiculously large smile on their face. "We can set sail!"

Vivi ran over to Sanji and gave him a big hug, thanking him over and over again. The cook himself looked like he had died and gone to heaven.

I gave a sad smile as I watched their small celebration. I was going to miss this when I was gone. These guys had a way of getting under your skin, even after such a short time. They made being here in this world – away from home – a lot easier to cope with.

_But you can't risk their safety. _

And the fact that I had to keep them safe from myself, hurt.

**Ang3l: Hmm... Luffy shirtless...**

**Asa: Oh no.**

**Ang3l: *Dreamy sigh***

**Asa: *Waves hand in front of face* Well, Ang3l has stopped functioning so... We hope you liked it, but let Ang3l know how she did because that's the closest thing she's done to a fight scene. She will show the actual fights in Drum though so don't feel disappointed or anything, just be patient! **

**What else am I forgetting... Oh! *Snaps figures* CallmeEevee I reward you with a cookie of heavenly tastyness! Also, Thanks to SilentScreaming1944 for the OC. Two more spots open people!**

**Until next time!**


	5. Leaving Little Garden and Sick Navigator

**Asa: I thought you promised an extra long chapter?**

**Ang3l: I know... This one was hard enough to get through as it was but I promise you will get your long chapter!**

**Asal: Wasn't there something you wanted to say about the OC's?**

**Ang3l: Ah yes, I know I said I still needed two more but the idea I had before changed. I am still gladly excepting OC's though because I will definitely need them. Oh and one more thing is that I'm not going to have any OC's join the Straw hats, I like the crew the way it is. **

**Asa: Ooh ooh! Tell them about your sequel!**

**Ang3l: Calm down, you're really hyper today! Yes I plan on having a sequel to this story. I know it's a bit early to be thinking about it but I just wanted to put it out there. I'm going to have this story end after Alabasta and 'FA Book 2: Falling into Place' will take up where it left off. You can also look for more Asa x Luffy in the sequel. Of course there will be hints in this one but nothing extreme. **

**Asa: Yay! Romance! **

**Ang3l: But anyway please enjoy!**

**Chapter V**

**Leaving Little Garden and Sick Navigators**

"See for yourself! Mine is _much _bigger!"

"Just look at it! My lizard wins!"

"Do those eyes of yours do anything? My rhino is WAY bigger!"

I massaged my forehead as I listened to Zoro and Sanji's annoying bickering. We had gotten back to the ship and the two couldn't leave without deciding on who won their hunting contest, which they apparently started after Luffy, Vivi and I left.

Luffy was leaning beside me watching the argument. "Who cares?" he said "They both look tasty."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

I patted the dejected looking boy on the back. "You tried."

Nami finally got fed up with the fighting and told them just to cut up what they need and put it on the ship, to which Sanji immediately complied. Zoro however still wasn't satisfied and tried turning to Ussop for help.

"I don't care, leave me out of it." The sniper replied waving his hand.

"Can't you just call it a draw?" Vivi asked.

Zoro looked away. "There's no such thing as a draw in a match!"

"GET ON BOARD ALREADY!"

Zoro and Sanji shivered in fear. "H-hai Nami…"

In no time at all the Going Merry set sail towards open sea. I walked up to the figure head and was just about to place my hand on it when a memory flashed in my mind. I ripped my hand away and cradled it to my chest. I didn't want what happened to that tree to happen to Merry. Whatever was going on with me and these… powers… I wasn't going to let it hurt my friends because as far as I know, I have no control over them.

We sailed further. Past the giants who were on either side of the river entrance, past the giant gold fish that ate us and back into the open sea at last.

"Someday, I'm definitely gonna visit Elbaf, the Village of Warriors!" Ussop declared. It had been about an hour since we left Little Garden. Everyone had changed into cleaner cloths and I had to borrow some of Nami's again. I promised her that I would make it up to her somehow though.

I watched Luffy and Ussop's antics from where I sat against the railing. Nami was leaning against the mast with Vivi and Carue was running about with the boys. I didn't really know where anyone else was but I didn't want to move. I was keeping a close eye on Nami.

I closed my eyes to rest for a moment as I let Nami and Vivi go about their talking. Sadly my rest didn't last very long when the energetic captains voice broke me from my peace. I opened my eyes, watching him and Ussop approach me. "Asa! I wanted to talk to you about something." Luffy said.

I frowned at his light but slightly serious tone. "What is it? Did something happen?" I asked sitting up straighter.

Luffy shook his head, serving to deepen my confusion, as well as Ussop's who was just looking at his captain with a similar expression to mine.

"Well then, what's up?"

"Joi-" Whatever Luffy was about to say was cut off by Vivi's yell.

"EVERYONE, COME QUICK!"

We ran over to Vivi and Nami, who was lying on the ground, sweating bullets. "What's wrong, Vivi?" Ussop asked in concern. I looked closer at Nami. The poor girl was breathing heavily. Her cheeks were red and she was lightly shaking. I bit my lip. This wasn't good, she looked worse than she did in the anime!

"Nami-san's come down with a high fever!"

The kitchen door slammed open and Sanji came running out. "NAMI-SAN HAS WHAT!?" He screamed, shoving Luffy and Ussop out of the way of his precious navigator. Everyone leaned over her trying to see if she was okay.

I sighed in annoyance. "Alright, alright. Back up and give her some room." I ordered. To my surprise they actually listened and immediately moved out of the way. I walked up to Nami and as gently as I could, picked her up under her arms. "Vivi, grab her feet. We have to get her in bed."

"Hang on a second." She walked over to Zoro and handed him the Log Pose, giving him strict orders to watch the course.

After carrying her into the women's quarters, Vivi and I laid her down on the bed and pulled the blankets over her. All the while Luffy, Sanji and Ussop were hovering close by. Not close enough to be in the way but to still be able to see if anything happened.

It wasn't long before the inevitable happened. Sanji broke out in tears. "Is Nami-san gonna die? Is she, Vivi-chan?" He sobbed.

I stepped out of the way to let Vivi take over, considering she probably had more experience in this then I did.

"It's probably due to the climate." Vivi explained as she placed a wash cloth on Nami's forehead. "One of the obstacles seafarers invariably face upon entering the Grand Line is the threat of illness due to the unnatural climate. It's not unusual for fearless pirates, even those with great reputations in other seas, to succumb to the climate and pass away. Even the slightest of symptoms may lead to death if they are not treated immediately."

Sanji sobbed harder. _Way to lighten the mood Vivi…_

"In the near future, I would look at getting a doctor on board." I said to Luffy. He nodded in understanding, staring worriedly at Nami.

"Future…" Vivi mumbled under her breath just loud enough for us to hear. "That's it! Asa, you said you could see the future right?!" I stiffened. Well so much for that being a secret. I nodded slowly, wondering what she was thinking.

The new fact took a moment to sink in for the others. "What!? You can see the future!?" Ussop exclaimed in shock. Luffy and Sanji had similar expressions.

"COOL!" The captain yelled.

"You can tell us if Nami will be alright!" Sanji said.

I looked at the ground. So that's what they wanted, reassurance. I looked up to Luffy silently asking if he was okay with me telling. He nodded. Taking a deep breath, I started "Nami is going to die-" I was suddenly cut off by their shocked and devastated yells. I groaned and face-palmed. I didn't even finish yet!

"-IF we don't get her to a doctor! Luckily for us the next island is Drum Kingdom which is known for their doctors." The sighs of relief were instantaneous. Because Nami wasn't able to do it, Ussop punched me in the head.

"Don't scare us like that!"

I rubbed the sore spot. "You were the ones that didn't let me finish…" I grumbled. Stretching out my back, I walked out of the room. I figured they'd like the time to themselves. This was crew member stuff.

When I opened the door, Zoro was sitting on the railing in front of me. He was staring off into the distance and lifting a weight with his right arm. I knew he was aware of my presence but he didn't say anything. I leaned against the rail beside him.

It was quite obvious that Zoro didn't trust me completely. Understandably so. It was alright though. We sat in comfortable silence, the sound of the ocean and the breeze helped calm my stressed nerves. I wonder why I was really brought to this world…

"Are you okay?" A gruff voice broke me out of my thoughts. I turned to Zoro. He hadn't looked away from where ever he was staring.

"Yeah, I guess." Why shouldn't I be okay?

"You had a lot of injuries after today." He said, the rhythm of his exercise never faltering.

"I've had worse." And it was true; when I was little I had gotten stuck in my bedroom when the house caught on fire. It was horrible. That was how I lost my mother and my father; well he just kind of disappeared. "But you should be more worried about yourself. I heard you tried to cut your feet off."

My only answer was a light smirk. "So how's Nami doing?" He asked in a rare moment of caring. Well, okay I knew he cared a lot but he just didn't like to show it.

"She's in rough shape. She'll die if she doesn't get to a doctor soon." I said, telling him the same thing I told the others. He frowned.

"And what about you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What about me?"

He looked over at me, taking his eyes off the ocean. "The crew hasn't had the chance to decide what we're gonna do with you. I'm assuming we're dropping you off at your home island-"

I waved my hands dismissively. "No, no. Don't worry about me. I'll be outta your hair when we get to the next island. Besides you guys need to worry about Nami right now, not me." I said smiling sadly.

Zoro seemed to notice my expression and his frown deepened but didn't say anything.

"What the heck are you doing?"

I looked up to see Nami, of all people.

_Man she is stubborn!_

"What's your problem?" Zoro said indignantly. "The ships going straight isn't it?"

"Yeah, straight in the wrong direction! Look at the compass for crying out loud!"

"I don't have to look at that thing. We've been heading for the biggest cloud over there the whole time!"

I face-palmed. Really? A cloud? "Uh, I hate to break it to you Zoro but clouds kinda move and change. It's part of what makes them clouds." I explained.

"I can't take this anymore." Nami sighed "I'm getting a headache." I put my hand on her shoulder.

"You should go rest."

She sighed again and just when I thought she was going to comply she looked up sharply.

"The wind's changed…" Nami muttered. I shared a glance at Zoro. What was that supposed to mean? "Call everyone on deck!"

Zoro didn't waste time to lean over the railing and shout for the rest of the crew. Once the crew was on deck they all started following Nami's orders. I blinked as I watched them work in perfect sync. I had very little experience with boats this size, I've only ever been shown how to man a small sail boat, so I just stood beside Nami uselessly.

_Great, another reason why I shouldn't be on this crew._

In no time at all the ship was on the right course again and everyone was back to worrying about Nami, who was looking even worse than before. Vivi suddenly stepped out on deck.

"I have a request to make." Everyone brought their attention to her. "I realize this is a lot to ask after being allowed to ride on your ship, but right now, my country is falling to a terrible fate. Therefore, I want us to hurry forward! I cannot afford the slightest delay! I need this ship to continue on to Alabasta at its maximum speed!"

The looks she received were not the happiest. There was an unspoken rule with the Straw hats. That was 'Nakama _always _come first'. It was Nami who finally spoke up.

"Of course. We promised you didn't we?"

I stepped back quietly separating myself from the group. This felt like a private matter that I was intruding on. This action didn't go unnoticed by a certain Straw hat wearing boy.

"Well then, let's hurry to Drum Kingdom. We must get Nami-san cured as quickly as possible, and then head to Alabasta! That's this ship's 'maximum speed', isn't it?"

Smiles spread throughout the crew.

**Asa: That was a nice little bonding moment I had with Zoro!**

**Ang3l: Yeah, you haven't really talked to him since you got on the ship so I decided to add that in.**

**Asa: Well I don't think there's much left to say, besides keep sending in those OC's! Anyone you want, whether they're good guys or bad guys.**

**Ang3l: Right! I want this story to be reader involved so don't be afraid to send in your opinions or suggestions! You guys and gals are the best! Thanks so much!**

**Asa: Until next time!**


	6. The Winter Island and Silent Goodbyes

**Ang3l: Back again!**

**Asa: ...**

**Ang3l: What is it? **

**Asa: I don't like this title...**

**Ang3l: Oh that, well... not much I can do. You have to leave the Straw hats for now. But we'll see them again. Sooner then you think actually! **

**Asa: Fine... But Luffy isn't going to be to happy with me.**

**Ang3l: Nope~ Well, I don't really think there is much to say... please enjoy and let me know what you think:) Oh and because I haven't said it in awhile, I don't own One Piece!**

**Chapter VI**

**The Winter Island and Silent Goodbyes **

I leaned against the side of the bed that Nami was currently resting on. I had taken over watching her from Vivi. The princess was almost always in here and she never got a break. I figured it was the least I could do.

Sitting here, listening to the ragged breathing of someone I'd like to consider a friend, had given me some time to think. Something I didn't have the privilege of when we were on Little Garden.

So many things were still so confusing to me. The whole concept of just being here didn't make sense…

And that man. Death. Was that real? Why did he seem so familiar to me? Why did his very presence remind me of-

NO.

He was gone. He wasn't coming back. I shook my head roughly, trying to destroy all thoughts, all hopes, of Death being him. My Kyal.

But that wasn't the only thing that was bothering me. I was still stressing over these powers as well as having to leave the crew. Could I really do it? Could I leave the only place that had felt more like home to me then my Aunt and Uncle's house? The people who felt like a family to me? Could I go through with losing more people I care about? That wasn't even the only thing that was on the line.

_What about my dream? What happens to that?_

Travelling with the Straw hats would no doubt result in the most amazing pictures in the world! Was I able to give up all this for the safety of my friends? Without even thinking I knew that answer already.

I sighed and stood up. If the sounds of battle on deck and the thrashing of the ship a little while ago were any indication then I could easily assume that Wapol had shown up. I walked to the desk and grabbed my back pack off of it, briefly checking to make sure I still had my camera. I strapped it on my shoulders and walked to the door.

_Might as well see if they're almost done._

When I open the door I was met with a strange sight. Two rubbery arms stretched past either side of the mast. The strange thing was, was that I couldn't see the rubbery boy they belonged to. Tracing the long limbs back, I found that they came from the mouth of a chubby short person. The man trying to chew through Luffy was wearing what looked like a polar bears pelt over top of a shirt made of… metal plates maybe? Over all though the guy looked like a gorilla.

Sanji turned to me as Luffy's hands finally flew back to the rest of his body. "How's Nami's condition?" I shrugged casually, stepping back so I wouldn't get hit.

"Same as before, if not worse."

Wapol was blasted into the sky, spitting Luffy out on the deck. Wapol's crew hurried to save their captain or king or whatever, calling out for us to remember them. I sighed. Out of all the 'bad guys' in One Piece Wapol was easily the second most annoying. Buggy being the first. I'm just thankful I showed up after that arc!

Later that night, the whole crew decided to sleep in the same room as Nami. No one was willing to leave her side. I however was sitting beside a peacefully sleeping Luffy and was tending to a small cut he got on his forehead from a picture frame. Judging by the way Vivi and Sanji had just waved it off when I asked, I assumed they had something to do with it. I used a damp cloth to clean away any dirt, being careful not to wake the boy. When I was done I gently put a small bandage on it.

I was well aware that if I had just left it alone then Luffy probably wouldn't have thought twice about it. It wasn't even bleeding or anything! But I felt like I had to do something, just to make myself feel more useful. Also, I didn't like seeing Luffy hurt… I didn't like seeing any of them hurt!

I hesitantly combed my fingers through Luffy's soft hair and was pleased when his snoring stopped and a relaxed smile came to his face. It took every ounce of my being not to squeal at the cuteness so I settled for biting my lip.

I looked up at the other crew members. Zoro was leaning against Carue who was sleeping on his side, Vivi was leaning against the side of Nami's bed with her head resting in her arms and Ussop was slouched against the desk with Luffy's foot in his face. Sanji was on watch and I couldn't help feeling sorry for the man. It was freezing outside.

A pained groan distracted me from fiddling with Luffy's hair and almost instantly his snoring started up again. I looked over at Nami's bed to see her sitting up and taking in the other's just as I had been doing not a second ago.

I stood up, gaining the navigators attention. I tip-toed my way through the mess of bodies, almost losing my balance a few times, and sat up at the head of her bed. Being mindful not to wake Vivi, I gently pushed Nami back to lie down. "You need to sleep Nami." She looked at me with concern. I was tempted to roll my eyes. _She should be more concerned for herself._

"Why a-are you… _cough…_ why are you still up?" She whispered.

I just smiled at her. "Just couldn't sleep is all. Now rest, you need your energy." She nodded and closed her eyes. I brushed her hair out of her face and re-soaked the cloth to put on her forehead, all the while humming 'Hush Little Baby'. When I was sure that Nami was asleep again, I curled up in the nearest corner of the room.

Truth be told, I was exhausted. Mentally and physically.

But I was too afraid to sleep because if I slept there would be every opportunity to dream about my Aunt and Uncle again. I didn't want to see them looking so broken and hurt…

So I sat there and listened to the crew talk and snore in their sleep, preparing myself for a long night.

It had only been a few hours since Nami had woken up and already the crew was starting to wake up and get on with their day. Ussop had went outside to fix the hole that Wapol left in the ship, Luffy pulled a chair up to Nami's bed and was trying to make her laugh, everyone else went to go find warmer clothes.

I went to help Ussop after I found a warm jacket, hoping that doing something productive would keep me awake. I vaguely listened in to Ussop, Sanji and Vivi talking about different island climates as I fought to keep my eyes open. I rubbed them tiredly.

_Damn… I can't keep this up for much longer…_

Luckily for me, I didn't have to.

"LAND HO!"

Luffy was out on deck in a matter of seconds, sitting in his favourite spot on the figure head. "An island! White! It's so white! It bet it's snow! An island of snow!" The captain shouted as the large mountains of Drum Kingdom came into view.

"Oi, Luffy! I shouldn't have to tell you this, but we can't go on an adventure this time. We're here to find a doctor! After we have one look at Nami-san, we're gonna be leaving right away! Oi! Oi, Luffy!" Sanji tried to gain his attention.

"Snow's so fun…"

"No use, he ain't listening."

I felt my eyes grow heavier as their voices sounded far away and hollow. It was hard to tell who was saying what at this point.

The closer we got to the island, the harder it was to think straight. The cold wasn't helping either.

"Oi, Luffy. Aren't you cold wearing just that?"

"The temperature is -10ᵒC! At that temperature, bears start getting ready to hibernate!"

There was a slight pause.

"I-It's cold!"

"COULD YOU BE _ANY _SLOWER!?"

I smiled sleepily and managed to crack my eyes open. That was definitely Luffy. Said boy walked pasted me on his way to get a coat but stopped. He seemed to inspect me for a moment before frowning. "Oi, Asa. Are you okay? You aren't getting sick to are you?" He put his hand on my forehead but I gently pushed it away and smiled.

"No, I'm okay. Just a bit tired." He shrugged but still looked a bit worried. After he came back from getting his coat we finally reached the edge of the island. I shifted my bag on my shoulders. I was all ready to go.

"That's far enough, pirates!" A voice suddenly yelled. Upon looking around we came to the realization that we were surrounded. Surrounded by a lot of people with a lot of guns.

"Oi, here's some people." _Wow, thanks for that Luffy. _

"But… they don't look very happy to see us." Ussop said.

A man stepped forward. "Pirates," He said addressing us. "We hereby demand that you depart this shore immediately!"

"We came here to find a doctor!" Luffy explained "We have a sick person on board!"

The islanders wouldn't have it. "You think your tricks will work on us!? You filthy pirates!" One of them shouted.

"This is _our _island! We're not gonna let a bunch of pirates land here and invade!"

"Now, take up your anchor and be gone! Otherwise, we'll blow your ship out of the water!"

Sanji looked around, frowning. "They really hate us and we've only just met." Apparently that was the last straw for some of them.

"Keep your mouth shut!" A man yelled firing his pistol. The shot echoed through the air and the bullet dug itself into the deck at Sanji's feet. I jumped a mile high, suddenly wide awake as my body flooded with adrenaline. My mind kept screaming at me '_Danger! Danger!_' but I couldn't move.

With anger, Sanji ran at the man who fired, scaring him. With shaking hands he fired again just as Vivi jumped in the way to stop Sanji.

Everything seemed very quiet for a moment. Vivi dropped to the ground and everyone looked on in horror. "VIVI!" But I was distracted by a burning sensation that seemed to start in my right shoulder. I looked down, confused as to what this odd feeling was. My brain seemed to work in slow motion. Blood… my blood… Then my position registered in my head. I was standing right behind Sanji and Vivi. I had been shot.

I had to get out of here. "I-I'll go get the first aid!" I yelled, running into the ship before anyone could react. The moment the door slammed shut I slapped my hand over my mouth to muffle the scream of pain. The adrenaline had died out and shock had set in. I had been shot. Oh my god, I had been freaking shot! I scurried to find the first aid kit. Taking my hand off my mouth when I was sure I wouldn't scream again, I used it to rip off my coat and try and stop the bleeding.

I knew nothing about first aid and what I did know came from watching TV. The first thing I had to do was get the bullet out. I didn't exactly know how to do that, so I sifted through the medical supplies looking for anything useful. The only thing I found was a pair of tweezers. This was going to hurt and I was pressed for time.

In a record amount of time I had gotten the bullet out, stopped the most of the bleeding and gotten it wrapped. I stuffed my ruined jacket in my bag and grabbed a new one from the closet. I ran out the door back on deck, carrying the first aid kit. No one was there!

I looked around trying to find someone.

"OI! ASA!" A call from the island drew my attention. I ran to the side of the ship. Luffy and the others were already on land ready to follow after… the mayor guy… _Can't remember his name… _

Luffy noticed the first aid kit in my hand. "Oh! Yeah, we don't need that. Vivi was just grazed, but thanks anyway! Stay here with Zoro and Carue! We're going to go look for a doctor!"

I blinked. _This is just ridiculous. _ The others left and I stood there for the longest time, trying to process what just happened. My shoulder ached so badly, now that my brain had started to slow down a little, and the exhaustion returned in full force. Zoro came out on deck. Where he had been previously, I had no idea.

I could feel his eyes on me and I tried to control my heavy breathing. I turned to him and smiled. "Well. I appreciate your help and everything but I should get going." I headed over to the ladder.

"W-what? Hold on! You can't just leave!" I looked at him questioningly.

"Why not?" He gave me an odd look.

"What do you mean 'why not'? You haven't even said goodbye to the others yet!"

I sighed and threw my leg over the railing. "I've never been very good at goodbyes. Tell the others I hope to see them around and… good luck on achieving your dreams. I hope Luffy becomes the Pirate King. That boy was meant to change the world." I gave one last tired smile before climbing down. I felt my eyes watering at the pain in my arm but tried to act normal. I treaded through the thick snow, going in any random direction.

"W-Wait Asa!" I did a double take at hearing Zoro say my name. A tear slipped through my façade and I didn't dare turn around. Not now. I ran off before he could think of following me.

Back on the ship, Zoro watched with a blank face as I ran off into the forest. Only one thought ran through his head as he got ready to do some winter training. _Luffy is going to kill me. _

I had no way of knowing where I was. Everything looked the same as it had half an hour ago. I blew into my gloveless hands in an attempt to warm them. I was dizzy. So very dizzy. Climbing down the ships ladder had caused my wound to start bleeding again. I had given up trying to stop it a while ago. Blood was mixed into the compressed snow that acted as my footprints. Lack of sleep, the cold and blood loss. What a terrible combination. Not to mention I wasn't exactly emotionally stable either. As I stumbled awkwardly through the deep snow I couldn't help wondering what Luffy and the others were doing right now…

A loud rumble that shook the ground and knocked the snow off the trees was my answer. I stumbled forward, a wave of nausea washing over me. I had just enough time to glance up before I was hit with an impossibly large amount of snow, blacking out instantly. The snow devoured me and the only sign that I had been there at all was the echo of my scream that faintly vibrated through the air before fading out.

**Asa: Y-You... How... Why...?**

**Ang3l: What is it now?**

**Asa: YOU KILLED ME!?**

**Ang3l: NO! What kind of author would I be if I killed of the main character!? Jeez, just be patient. Things are gonna get a whole lot better for you in the next chapter;)**

**See ya next time in "New Friends and New Hope"**


	7. New Friends and New Hope

**Asa: OMG! You're still alive!?**

**Ang3l: I died then came back from the dead.**

**Asa: ... ZOMBIE! RUN!**

**Ang3l: Hi, everyone! I am really extra sorry that I took so long on this, I know a lot of you are looking forward to this chapter. I was kind of stressed out about final projects and exams so I took a break from writing... But I'm back! I still have to more exams but they should be easy then I have a few days off. I plan to use those days to write you guys more chapters! Enough of my blabbering! Here's your chapter. **

**Asa: One more thing though! My new friend in the story was created by Outcast001 so all rights and credit go to you Outcast! Um... Oh! andAng3l hopes she did alright portraying the character.**

**Chapter VII**

**New Friends and New Hope**

_I really hadn't expected to open my eyes. Who would after being buried alive? What I didn't expect the most though, was to open my eyes to the outside of a church. A familiar one at that. It was the old church down the street from my Aunt and Uncle's place. The building itself wasn't in the greatest of shape, given it was the oldest building in town. I took in my surroundings. There was no one on the street. No children playing, no adults chatting with neighbors and not even the occasional bark of a dog. It felt so empty and cold. _

_I walked up to the church and opened the door. Something was drawing me in, like my soul was being ordered to follow something I couldn't see. When I walked in the mood was worse than outside. Everything was depressing and it wasn't until I looked at the alter did I realize why. A coffin stretched out in front of a priest who was saying words of pray that I couldn't hear. Flowers were surrounding the wooden box and in the middle of the arrangement was a picture. A picture of me. _

_Strangely enough, I didn't panic. My heart didn't skip a beat and my breathing stayed even. I was calm when I knew I shouldn't be. _

_I wandered up the center isle taking in all of the faces that had shown up. Mrs. Keller, Bob and Ken, Derek from down the road… They were all here. Everyone I had ever spoken to while living in this town. Everyone except the kids that is. I was never very popular in my own age group. A warm feeling filled my heart. All these people came to say goodbye because they cared about me. Reaching the front I turned to see my Aunt and Uncle in the first row._

_Both of them were crying, hugging each other for comfort. _

_"It's strange seeing your own funeral isn't it?" Death said as he suddenly materialized beside me. I nodded._

_"It's a bit surreal." _

_We stood in comfortable silence as the funeral progressed. Suddenly my Uncle stood when the priest said something. He walked to the podium. With a strong voice despite his tear stained face, he spoke and I could hear him._

_"Asa was a special kind of person. She was someone who could walk into another's life unannounced and change it for the better. She was the girl that believed that what comes around goes around. The one that hoped for a better day. The one that wouldn't give up on you. Asa was the girl that was unlike all the rest. The one that spent her days smiling, and her night's crying. She's the girl that would have loved to be loved. The one that looks so damn strong, but feels so week. Asa was the kind of girl that picked herself up every time she fell because no one else would help her." His voice cracked as he tried to stop the tears. "My niece lost her family at a young age. She's been through so much but she always pushed on no matter what. She was always too scared to get close to anyone because everyone who promised they would stay, left. I love her so much but she was taken from me. Too often we don't realize what we have until it is gone." _

_Upon finishing his speech he stepped down and sat next to his near hysterical wife. I was sobbing. I wanted nothing more than to hug them. Hug them and never let go. But I couldn't and that was killing me. _

"Hey!" _Whose voice was that? I looked around but no one was talking and the voice wasn't familiar. I looked at Death. _

_"Who was that?" I asked._

"Hey, you need to wake up!" _There it was again. Death turned to me._

_"Listen to her. You need to wake up now." And just like that, like it never even happened…_

I was awake.

And I wasn't alone buried in snow.

Everything snapped back into focus at once. I was sitting up, I was warm and EVERYTHING hurt.

I jumped when I felt a hand gently grip my shoulder. A young girl probably about my age was looking at me with large light-blue eyes filled with worry. The girl had beautiful red hair that was done up in an intricate braid, she wore a grey tight fitting T-shirt underneath a maroon hoodie. A pair of black leggings and no shoes to finished the look.

"Alright, take it easy there." She coaxed as she sat down on the floor beside me. I finally took notice of where I was and realized it was a cave. It was large and spacious, there was a fire going in the middle of the 'room' and supplies were lying here and there. They probably belonged to this girl.

"W-What happened? Where am I? Who are you?" I said quickly, unsure of what question was more important at the moment. She seemed to find my stammering amusing as she smiled.

"Calm down, you're alright. My names Alexandra Kenly. You're in a cave at the moment. I managed to dig you out after you were hit by an avalanche. Now, you mind telling me your name?"

"Asa." I told her simply. She nodded, and reached over to go through a bag. She pulled out a thermos, uncapped it and handed it to me. I took it hesitantly but my throat was too dry to care and I downed the contents which turned out to be some kind of tea. "Thanks."

"No problem. So what exactly were you doing out in the forest? Wounded no less." It took a moment to realize what she meant by wounded.

_Oh right. I had been shot._

I looked down at myself and noticed I was wearing a different shirt and there were bandages peeking out from under the sleeve and collar. "I was…leaving. Trying to find my way home."

She gave me a calculating stare. "Leaving or running away?" She asked rhetorically. I frowned and looked at my lap sadly. She seemed to notice this and cleared her throat. "Well, maybe I can help. Where do you live?"

I shook my head. "You wouldn't know it. It's a long way from here." I pushed the blanket off of me and stood up. Alexandra stood as well. She was an average height which made me feel that much shorter considering I was still about two inches shorter than her. "Thank you for the offer though and thanks for saving me but I don't want to be a bother so I'll get out of your hair." Shooting her one last smile, I awkwardly made my way to where I thought was the exit. It wasn't until I started walking did I realize that my body wasn't responding properly. The muscles in my arms and legs shook and twitched in an effort to do what they were supposed to but I didn't get far before I almost kissed the ground. Alexandra caught me just in time and she sighed.

"Oh great you're a stubborn one. Just what I need." She lugged me back over to the fire and sat me down in its warmth. She sat across from me and leaned back on her hands letting her legs stretch towards the flames. "So why don't you start with how you got that bullet wound." Alexandra insisted.

I looked into the dancing fire. Nothing about this girl seemed dangerous to me. If anything she seemed really nice! Besides what are the chances that I'll ever see her again anyway? Maybe some venting time would do me some good. "I was shot by one of the villagers when our ship arrived."

Alexandra raised a brow. "Ship? What, a pirate ship?" she asked. I nodded. "Any crew I would know?"

I shrugged. "Maybe but they just arrived in the Grand Line. They haven't really gotten a chance to make a name for themselves yet. The Straw hat Pirates?"

Alexandra's eyes lit up at the name. "Oh yeah! I know them, Captain Monkey D. Luffy, right? Wow, how'd you end up with that lot? I heard he took down Don Krieg, Arlong and Buggy the Clown in East Blue."

I smiled. "Yep that's the one. I kind of… ended up in a storm. They saved me and offered to bring me home but…" I trailed off still not proud of my decision to leave.

"But?" Alexandra asked softly as if she knew we were approaching a sore subject for me.

"I'm not quite sure where home is any more. We were headed to Alabasta when they're navigator got sick, that's why we stopped here. I didn't know what to do, if I should stay with them or not." I ran my fingers through my hair. "And something's happening to me, something dangerous. I left because…"

"You don't want to hurt anyone." Alexandra finished for me. I nodded. "Well that's quite the predicament you're in. Tell me more about this 'dangerous something'." She pulled her knees to her chest and leaned forwards like a child eager to hear a bedtime story.

"Well," I started "It started when we were on Little Garden…" For the next hour or so I continued to tell her all about my strange happenings with the water and the tree. We even threw out some ideas of what it could have been. The Devil Fruit was instantly ruled out because I knew I could still swim just fine. After a few more random ideas I sighed. "This is getting us nowhere."

Alexandra nodded in agreement, staring up at the rocky ceiling. "We should find someone who actually knows about this stuff."

"Like who?"

Alexandra seemed to hesitate. "There is an old crone in Alabasta that is rumored to be pretty… involved… with this kind of stuff. Maybe she could help?"

I bit my lip thinking. If I went to Alabasta now, then there would be a high chance that I would run into the Straw hats later. I couldn't face them after leaving like I did. But if this old lady did know something then maybe I could learn to control whatever was going on with me and I could really join the crew! If they still wanted me around by then…

Making my decision, I nodded. Alex smiled and she stood up. "Alright then, here's the deal. I'll take you to Alabasta and help you out with this weird powers thing you got going on. In exchange…" She thought for a moment. "In exchange, you have to introduce me to the Straw hats!"

I stood up and shook her hand. "Deal." We said together.

I walked with my new partner through the snow. We had decided to start getting supplies for our journey to Alabasta so we were currently making our way to Bighorn. After our deal had been made I asked Alex (who said I could call her that) what she was doing on Drum. She told me that a friend of hers asked her to come check on the island to make sure it was fairing alright. She had camped out in a cave to avoid attention. "You saw firsthand how well they take to new comers." I also found out that Alex was a wanderer. She just kind of travelled where ever she wanted and helped out when she could.

In the comfortable silence between us all you could hear was the crunch of our feet on the snow. I felt my mind wandering as the town came into view and before I knew it I was humming Counting Stars by One Republic. I was so engrossed in the song that was playing in my head that I didn't even notice when Alex began humming with me. We both froze.

Slowly I turned and looked over at Alexandra. She had a similar expression on her face. "Where are you from Asa?" She asked.

I gulped nervously. I really did not want to get my hopes up at the moment. "A small harbor town in Oregon, United States."

Her eyes widened at the familiar names. She jumped towards me and grabbed my shoulders. I winced as she jostled my injury. "United States?! Your from that world!? I am too!" I looked at her with wide eyes. "This is great! Here I thought I was the only one who was sent here!"

I hugged her. She stiffened and went quiet. "Asa?" She gently pulled away to look at me. Tears were pouring down my face and I was sobbing. "A-Asa? What's the matter?"

"I-I-I I thought… I thought I w-was alone!" I managed to get out through my crying. Alexandra smiled sadly and pulled me into a tight hug, which I eagerly returned.

It took me a while but I had finally calmed down and Alex released me so we could continue walking. "So how long have you been here then?" I asked, the town getting closer and closer with each step.

"Hm I don't really know exactly. It's been a while though. Why do you think we were sent here?"

"I don't know. I ran into Death though…"

"Me too! Wasn't really how I pictured him."

"Same. So One Piece then, did you watch it in our world?"

Alex nodded. "Yep, I got to see up to Punk Hazard before I was stuck in this place."

"Punk Hazard? But the show isn't that far past that yet. How long did you say you've been here for?"

She shrugged. "A few years at least."

I looked at her in shock. "A few years! Wow… time must not work the same in comparison to our world then. It's only been a few months since the Punk Hazard arc ended."

And that is how our conversation continued until we reached the town. We shared stories about our other life, things we missed and things we didn't. We told each other about our families and friends as well. All too soon we came to the first row of houses.

And of all people Zoro, Vivi and Ussop had to be standing right there.

**Asa: And there we have it! **

**Ang3l: Yep**

**Alex: I'm such a great friend!**

**Asa: That you are *Pats on the back***

**Ang3l: Okay! So, let me know what you think! And thanks again to Outcast001 and her OC idea!**

**See you next time!**


	8. The Crews Plan and Goodbye Winter

**Ang3l: And we are back! Do you see how fast updates are when exams aren't involved? **

**Asa: But you still have two more, shouldn't you be studying?**

**Ang3l: ... *Duct tapes Asa's mouth shut* I didn't hear anything.**

**Asa: Mmmphmm!**

**Ang3l: So! This chapter is sort of short and I apologize for that. I'm just kind of getting it out of the way because I have big plans for the next chapter;) Want a hint? If I get... hmm... 3 reviews! That's easy right? Well 3 reviews and I'll post a hint on my profile about what you can look forward to in the next chapter. Or you can try to guess! Your choice:) Anyway, on with the chapter!**

**Chapter VIII**

**The Crews Plan and Goodbye Winter**

I reacted on instinct and ended up tackling Alexandra behind a building. "O-Oi! What the heck was that for?" The red head complained from her spot on the ground. I peeked around the corner of the house. _Good, they didn't see us. _

"Sorry." I apologized quietly. She leaned over my shoulder to try and see what I was looking at.

"Is that…"

"Yeah." The three seemed to be having a serious conversation but I couldn't hear what it was about.

"Did they see us?" Alex asked

"I don't think so. Damn, I totally forgot that they'd be in this town. That must mean Luffy is up at the castle already."

I sighed and leaned back against the wall. This wasn't how I wanted it to be. I didn't want to have to hide from my friends. I felt determination course through me. _I will get these powers sorted out and I will come back to you guys… I promise._

Little did I know, Zoro, Ussop and Vivi were indeed having a very serious discussion.

"What do you mean she left!?" Ussop yelled. Vivi looked shocked at the news that Zoro shared. Zoro sighed, he knew explaining this wouldn't be easy.

"Just that, she left."

"But she can't leave!"

Zoro rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Why can't she? She isn't exactly part of the crew. She can leave when she wants to."

Ussop frowned. Zoro wasn't wrong. Asa wasn't a crewmember but that didn't make her any less a friend. One adventure with her was all that was needed for her to be considered family. Vivi turned to the swordsmen. "Did she say why she was leaving?"

Zoro shook his head. "No. I was talking to her when Nami first got sick. She seemed to have it in her head that she was in the way." Now it was Vivi's turn to frown. The princess knew that she was putting a lot of pressure on the Straw hats to get her home but she didn't really stop and think of how it was affecting the poor girl. The girl who just wanted to go home as well.

They all knew that Asa was pulled into their troubles by accident. She really had no part in the war in Alabasta or the safe delivery of its princess. There was nothing keeping her with them, only things that were pushing her away. So who could blame her for leaving?

If only Luffy could see it like that.

Ussop groaned at the thought of his captain. He was not going to be happy. Ussop had a pretty good idea what the rubber boy was going to ask Asa before he was interrupted and he wasn't going to complain. He wanted Asa on the crew just as much as the rest. She had helped each of them so much in so little time. Sometimes it was just small things, like her helping him repair the ship that morning, but it meant a lot to him. It wasn't just him either. Asa had helped all of them in some way or another but she seemed rather drawn to Luffy. His rubber captain also seemed to take a rather large liking to the girl as well and they had become fast friends.

It was too late now.

"How are we going to explain this one to Luffy?" Ussop asked, voicing his thoughts. Zoro thought for a moment.

"We don't. If we tell Luffy now then he'll charge after her blindly. I say we wait until we are off of the island, by then Asa will be long gone and we'll have to continue to Alabasta. There is no doubt that Luffy will be upset but by then it'll be too late to do anything."

"Is that okay though? I mean… what about Asa? What if she's in trouble? What if she left to protect us from something? Or what if she's being hunted by someone? She could be in huge danger!" Ussop spouted out, panicking.

"Ussop, you saw how happy she was around us. I think she would have trusted us enough to tell us something like that." Vivi said reassuringly. "Let's not play the 'what-if' game. I'm sure she's fine."

* * *

"I am so not okay." I groaned out.

Alex and I had managed to get to the next street over and find a shop that was still open, which was weird considering this town was just hit with an avalanche. I had yet to recover from the close call with the Straw hats. Can you blame me though? After a dramatic exit like the one I had it would be pretty dang embarrassing to run into them this early!

"It'll be fine! Everyone else is up on the mountain; we won't run into any more of them. Though… I really can't wait to meet them in person." Alex said looking around the store for a Log Pose.

I looked over at her, mildly surprised. "Wait so, you've been here for years and you haven't tried to find the people this show follows? That'd probably be my first reaction, if I hadn't basically fallen right in their laps." I picked up a strange trinket and turned it over in my hands. It slipped through my cold fingers and I just managed to catch it before it hit the floor. There was a small snap and a piece fell off.

"Yeah, well. I did run into the Whitebeard pirates. I'm pretty good friends with that group." She watched with amusement as I failed to reattach the piece before gently placing it on the shelf and walking away.

I did nothing.

Alexandra chuckled. She finally found the Log Pose we needed and went to the counter to pay.

Our next stop was to the docks. We looked around, trying to decide if we should hitch a ride with a leaving ship or buy our own.

"How much money do you have?" I asked Alex. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of beri. After quickly counting up the sum she sighed.

"Not enough to buy a ship that'll last to Alabasta."

"So hitch hiking it is?

"Hitch hiking it is."

We decided to start with the first ship we saw and walked up to a man with a clip board, seemingly taking inventory. "Excuse us sir? Is this ship going to Alabasta?" I asked, tapping the man on the shoulder.

He turned to us and frowned. "Yeah, what of it? Who the hell are you?"

I blinked. _How polite._

"We need a ride. This is Arrow and I'm Aria." Alex said. I gave her a quick side glance at the fake names but didn't say anything. _I hope Alex knows what she's doing. _

The man grunted and looked us up and down. He seemed to like what he saw because he nodded gruffly and turned back to his clip board. "We'll take you as far as Alabasta but no further." We both nodded happily and walked up the gangplank. Alex slipped the man some money for his troubles.

The ship was a nice one. It was bigger than the Merry and had two masts opposed to one. By the looks of it, this ship was delivering goods of some sort. The crew moved around in perfect sync as they worked, preparing for departure. Some of the men shot us confused glances but didn't think much on it and continued with what they were doing.

Alex and I sat down on a box of cargo out of the way of the crew. I leaned over to her. "What was up with the fake names?"

"You don't want the Straw hats to know where you're going yet do you? Anyone who was nearby could have heard that conversation. News travels fast." She explained in a hushed voice.

I nodded in understanding. If she had used our real names then when… IF the Straw hats came searching for me someone could have told them we were getting on a ship to Alabasta.

"But Arrow? Seriously?"

"What? It's a cool name!" Alex defended.

I rolled my eyes. _This is going to be interesting. _

The call went out to raise anchor and the ship set sail.

I adjusted my bag straps on my shoulders before gasping. I hadn't even gotten a picture of the island yet!

Quickly I pulled out my camera and changed the settings before looking around. _Hmmm…_

Slowly but surely an image started to develop in my head of how I wanted this to look. I turned to Alexandra who was watching me curiously. "Can I borrow you for a moment?"

She titled her head to the side but nodded. She stood up and I directed her to where I needed her to be. When I lifted the camera to my eye, I made sure that this was the shot I wanted. I had Alexandra standing on the railing of the ship, one hand wrapped around the rigging for support, the other on her hip which was jutting out to the side and a large smile on her face. In the background was the winter island in all its glory.

_Click_

Alex jumped down from the railing and walked over to me. I turned the camera towards her so she could see the picture. "Wow! That's a great shot! So you're a photographer then?"

"Yep! It's my dream to be the world's greatest photographer!" I announced proudly.

She smiled and looked at me fondly as I put the camera away. "You sounded just like Luffy right then."

I looked down sadly at the mention of the overly excited boy. _I wonder if he knows I'm gone yet…_

Alexandra seemed to notice my mood swing and she out a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We'll get this power thing sorted out and then get you back to them."

_Yes, I would definitely go back to them._

**Ang3l: Okay on the count of 3... *Grabs tape on Asa's mouth* 1... 3! *Rips off***

**Asa: OW! What the heck happened to 2?! **

**Ang3l: Sorry... okay! Well that probably wasn't one of my best but it'll get better! Hopefully... I would like to thank petragirl987 for the OC idea! I'm probably going to use that but not quite yet, most likely in book 2. Also I'll probably contact you closer to when I'll use the character so I can get more info:) Thanks again! **

**Asa: So review please! We love to hear what you think, and don't forget, 3 reviews and you get a little hint on what to look forward to in the next chapter as well as the chapter name. You can look for it on Ang3l's profile! **

**Until next time!**


	9. The Darkness

**Ang3l: Yeah! I'm back! Okay so lets get right to the important stuff. My profile. Any frequently asked questions, any need to knows, any info about OC's that I need, even 'Coming Soons' will be posted on my profile page. I highly recommend checking it out. **

**Asa: Yeah, yeah whatever! Get on with the story! **

**Ang3l: Alright hang on, just one more thing remember?**

**Asa: Oh right, the disclaimer. **

**Ang3l: Yep. We really haven't done that in a while... oops.**

**Asa: So in case you forget, Ang3l does not own One Piece!**

**Chapter IX**

**The Darkness**

The crew was beyond relieved to finally leave the winter island. It had been a very eventful adventure, almost losing their navigator, climbing a mountain, saving a kingdom from a messed up king and gaining a new nakama. All in all it had been fun.

It wasn't until they were well into their party, celebrating Chopper's joining, did Luffy suddenly stop for a moment. He surveyed the deck taking in each of his nakama. He quickly did a check list in his head to make sure everyone was there.

_Zoro… _

He looked around and spotted Zoro taking a large gulp of sake. _Check._

_Nami… Chopper…_

The navigator was talking to Chopper with a large smile on her face. He was happy to see her up and about again, that had been to close for his comfort. _Check and Check._

_Ussop… Sanji…_

They were on deck as well laughing and dancing around. _Check and Check._

_Vivi and Carue…_

Vivi was in the middle of trying to warm up a half frozen Carue because he tried to jump in and save Zoro from drowning in the river. Luffy chuckled at the thought. _Check, Check._

_Asa…_

Luffy stopped. He carefully scanned every inch of the deck but there was no sign of Asa. He frowned. _Maybe she's asleep in the cabin! _The rubber boy smiled and ran off.

He checked the cabin and found no sign of the girl. Not letting that deter him, he went through the entire ship searching for the lost brunette. Nothing. At this point he started resorting to yelling her name and the crew took notice of his actions. Most of them frowned in confusion but 3 looked away sadly.

Luffy came back on deck. "Guys, I think Asa's playing hide and seek and she's really good at it because I can't find her!" The rubber boy scratched his head.

Zoro took on last gulp of sake before standing up and drawing attention to himself.

"She left Luffy." Most of the crew instantly understood and looked on with wide eyes but Luffy was a little more oblivious.

"Oh, Well when will she be back?"

Zoro had to repress rolling his eyes. "No Luffy, she left. She isn't coming back."

Luffy's eyes widened and he blinked owlishly at his first mate. The only sound he could manage was a small "What?"

Zoro sighed and continued. "She left just after we arrived here. Told me to tell you that she hopes you become Pirate King. Before that though, when Nami was sick, we were talking and she said that she would be out of our hair when we reached Drum."

Throughout his explanation Luffy had started shaking his head in denial. _There is no way she would leave us. She can't have! She was… she was happy with us. Wasn't she?_

"N-no! She didn't leave! We have to go back and get her! Turn the ship around!" He looked pleadingly at a shocked navigator. Never before had she seen her captain act this desperate.

She shook her head sadly. "We can't, if we go back then we'll risk the Log pose setting. Then we wouldn't be able to get to Alabasta." No matter how much Nami wanted to go back for their friend she knew it wasn't possible.

Luffy suddenly found anger coursing through him and turned on Zoro. "How could you just let her leave! You should have stopped her! Don't you care about her at all!?" He shouted grabbing his first mates shirt.

Zoro looked straight into his captains eyes, staying calm. "Of course I care! Luffy, I want her to be a part of this crew just as much as the rest of us but she isn't! I had no authority to stop her. Besides, who are we to get her involved with our problems, she just wants to go home!"

Luffy began to calm down and he let Zoro go. Luffy gently brought his hand up to rub his forehead remembering that morning. He had woken up with a small bandage where he got hit with the picture frame. He had a pretty good idea who put it there and it made him smile each time he thought about how much she cared. There was no way any of the others would do something like that for him, it just wasn't like them. That never bothered him but the thought was sweet of her, he appreciated it.

That also brought back the memory of her acting strange earlier. She had seemed kind of spaced out and Luffy had been worried that she was sick too. "She was acting kind of weird this morning." He mumbled.

Ussop looked up. "Yeah, I noticed that too when she was helping me repair the ship."

"I woke up last night and sort of remember talking to her but I can't really remember what about." Nami pitched in.

Sanji frowned. If there was something wrong with one of his ladies then he was normally the first to know. Suddenly he also remembered something from that morning. "Vivi, can I see your arm?"

The princess looked at him confused but pulled up her coat sleeve. There on her upper arm was the graze she got when she was shot at. Sanji frowned.

"What is it?" Vivi asked.

"Can everyone remember roughly where they were standing when Vivi was shot?" the cook asked addressing the whole crew. They all slowly wandered to the approximate area they had been before, while Nami and Chopper stood out of the way, curious to see what was going on.

"Asa was standing over there." Ussop pointed. Sanji did a few calculations and then frowned, coming to a conclusion.

"Asa had been shot."

The crew whipped their heads towards Sanji, giving him their full attention.

"What do you mean she was shot?"

"The bullet that grazed Vivi's arm, it skimmed her and shot in the direction that Asa was. That might be why she ran off to get the first aid kit so quickly. It wasn't for Vivi it was for herself." Sanji explained.

"So what you're saying is… that one of our nakama was injured and none of us noticed?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, I noticed this morning. There was a bit of blood on the deck, I wrote it off because I thought it was from Vivi. Seeing the cut now though, there was too much blood to have come from her."

The crew sat in silence trying to take in all this new information. Not only had Asa been injured but she could be sick as well.

"Um… Who's Asa?" Chopper spoke up. The poor reindeer had no idea who they were talking about but by the way they spoke of her, she must be important.

Luffy looked out towards the ocean.

"She's a precious nakama. And I will get her back."

* * *

"Finally! We're here! Longest boat ride ever!" I sighed exasperatedly. Alexandra and I walked through the streets of Nanohana. It was a beautiful town. The only thing I couldn't stand was the heat. It was incredibly hot! The cold I can deal with but I was never good at tolerating the heat.

"Alright let's go see this old lady before we find a place to stay."

"Do you even know where she lives?" I asked, wiping the sweat off my forehead. _So hot…_

Alexandra taped her chin, I sighed. "You have no idea do you?" I stated more then asked.

"I'm sure someone around here knows! Let's asked that guy!" She pointed to some random guy walking with his daughter. Alexandra ran up to him and I grumbled but followed after her. "Excuse us sir but you wouldn't happen to know where a scary old lady lives do you?"

The man gave her an odd look. "Depends on what you mean by scary."

Alexandra frowned and tried to explain better, only to further confuse the man. I groaned and face-palmed. This is going to take a while. I felt a light tug on my pant leg and looked down to see the man's daughter. The girl was around the age of six or seven and had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. Her blonde hair reached just past her shoulder blades. I knelt so I was almost eye level with her. "Hello." I greeted. She smiled at me.

"Hello miss. I'm Clara." I smiled back at her. _What a pretty name._

"Well, Clara, I'm Asa." I almost clamped my mouth shut at the reveal of my name before thinking it over a little bit. In the background I could still hear Alexandra trying to get any sort of info off the man so she hadn't heard my slip up. _Well whatever. I'd prefer my name over 'Arrow' any day. Besides, it's just a little girl, what's the worst that could happen?_

"Are you looking for the witch lady?" Clara asked tilting her head to the side. This caught my attention.

"You know a witch lady? Would you happen to know where I could find her?"

Clara nodded and gave me the directions. Luckily we weren't that far away. I was just about to stand up again and pull Alex away from the poor man when Clara stopped me. "Why are you so sad miss?"

I gave her a small smile. "What makes you think I'm sad?"

"Your eyes are sad."

My smile disappeared and I frowned. "I had to leave some good friends of mine." I said, not really sure why I was telling a seven year old this.

She frowned. "Why?"

"To protect them."

"From a monster?" She asked innocently. I froze. Was that what I was? A monster? I could very well be…

"Yes." I said quietly, looking the girl in the eyes. Those big innocent eyes. I stood up and turned to Alex before the girl could say any more. Grabbing my friends shoulder I pulled her away, shooting a quick apology to the man. Alexandra and I headed in the direction the girl gave me and in no time at all we came across a house.

Now normally this wouldn't be that interesting in itself because the house was the same as all the rest. No, what was interesting was the fact that the moment I stepped in front of the door it creaked open and no one stood on the other side. In my head, the part of my brain that remembered every single horror movie I'd seen screamed at me not to go in. _Don't fall for such a stupid cliché! _The bad part is that I didn't have much of a choice. If I ever wanted to go back to the Straw hats I had to do this. I could tell Alexandra was nervous too but she hid it well.

Taking a deep breath we strolled into the house. Like I half expected it to the door slammed shut behind us. The inside of the house was nothing like the normality that was displayed on the outside. There was only one room, no doors leading to other rooms, just this little room. In the room was a beautifully carved wooden desk, books and papers strewn on every available surface. Strange trinkets and bottles of who-knows-what littered the shelves and there sat an old lady. Right in the middle of it all.

The woman stared at us with cold grey eyes. Eyes that held so much knowledge and wisdom. Her face was wrinkled and her hair matched her eyes, old with age.

Alexandra stayed near the door, respectfully leaving this up to me. This was my business. "Uh… hello?" I spoke, my voice sounding incredibly loud in the silent room. "My names uh… Asa. There's something I wanted to ask you about."

The woman suddenly stood, her chair scrapping across the wooden ground and making me jump. I put a hand on my chest to try and settle my speeding heart as the woman came out from behind her desk and approached me. She was just a bit shorter than me, much to my delight. At least I was still taller than someone!

The lady lifted up my arm and seemed to inspect it before dropping it back to my side. She walked around to my back and jabbed her crooked finger into my spine causing me to jump forward and wince. The women came back to my front and pulled my eye lids up. _I am seriously tempted to smack this chick. _

And I almost did too when she grabbed a strand of my hair and pulled. "Ouch!" I growled at the lady, rubbing my sore scalp. She walked back over to her desk and dropped the hair into a glass of strangely coloured liquid. She waved me over. I hesitantly went up to her. With out a single word the woman grabbed my hand and dipped it in the glass. I tried to wrench my hand back but she was stronger then she looked. The liquid was cold and thick, it laced between my fingers and coated my skin like liquid plastic.

My hand was removed and the woman placed her hand on top of mine, the liquid squishing between them.

And that was it. She just stood there with her eyes closed. I glanced over my shoulder at Alexandra who was looking just as confused (if not a little amused) as I was. We stood there for what seemed like hours.

Just when I was about to pull my hand away and get the heck out of here, the old woman gasped. She ripped her hand from mine and cradled it against her chest as if she'd been burned.

"So much…" She spoke for the first time. It was quiet and I leaned in a little so I could hear her better. "So much darkness. It enjoys the darkness, it feeds on the darkness."

I frowned and looked down at my goo covered hand. _Darkness? _

"It will come."

I looked back up at the woman. "What will come?"

"The Cradle. The Cradle lives, it breathes, it talks… it lies. It has a personality all of its own. It's like a great slumbering beast that wakes up every once and a while. To feed on the darkness. To feed on you." She pointed a shaky finger at me.

My frown deepened. "What is it though? What darkness? Is that why I have powers? I don't understand!"

The woman stared me in the eyes. "You are the Center. The Key. You can use the darkness to protect, to save us from the Cradle. Only you." She went over to a large pile of books and sifted through them.

"Center? Key? I don't get it! How can I save people if I don't know how to use the darkness? What if I hurt someone?" I was almost hysterical now. This crazy hag was putting a lot of pressure on one kid.

Without a word, a large dusty leather book was shoved into my hands and Alex and I were thrown out of the house by an unseen force. We heard the door slam shut from where we were sprawled on the ground.

Alexandra got up and offered me a hand. Taking it gratefully I stood as well, dusting off the sand from my pants.

"Well…" Alexandra started. "That was certainly… uh, different?"

I nodded in agreement, suddenly feeling rather numb with shock. I bent over and picked up the thick book at my feet. Alexandra and I read the title together and shared a glance.

The large leather bound book, decorated with intricate symbols and patterns, read two words.

_'The Darkness'._

**Ang3l: I'd also like to mention that I own nothing related to The Cradle. It's a story I found on a game online, I just tweaked it to fit in with the story. So for future reference, I do not own anything or any story's that are told about The Cradle.**

**Asa: Wow, you really love to blabber on about the boring stuff don't you? **

**Ang3l: Ugh, I know... So I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think:)**

**Until next time!**


	10. Training, Learning and Hiding

**Ang3l: All you readers are awesome.**

**Asa: I think they knew that already.**

**Ang3l: I was just reminding them! This story is doing really well for only being on its 10th Chapter! I can't thank everyone enough for their support!**

**Asa: So what'll happen in this chapter?**

**Ang3l: Read and find out!**

**Chapter X**

**Training, Learning and Hiding**

One week.

One week was all it took for me to start getting really worried.

The Straw hats had yet to make an appearance in Alabasta. _It didn't take this long in the anime! Our boat ride here was only a day at the most! Where could they be? Were they alright? Did something happen? _The only thought that kept me going was that the anime may not have shown every one of their adventures. Only the major ones. I just hoped that was the case…

A lot had happened in this one week. After leaving the hag's house Alexandra and I went to look for a place to stay. We managed to find a young family that was willing to take us in as long as we paid rent and helped out when needed. One of the jobs I often found myself stuck with was babysitting. Surprisingly I was pretty good with children! The couple had two small kids, one girl and one boy. They were 6 and 3 respectively. Alexandra was stuck with cleaning and laundry but she didn't look like she minded very much, said she'd much rather be cleaning then looking after loud children.

We had to get new clothes to fit in and to protect us from the heat (which I still wasn't used too). Alex and I both wore white veils over our faces to protect us from the sun as well as to hide our identity from as many people as possible. Alexandra decided to keep her name considering the Straw hats had never met her before but she insisted I still went with Arrow much to my distain. _Could she have picked a more fake name?_

We went out around town to do the odd jobs for neighbors to get money to pay the rent. It wasn't that bad, living here. If it wasn't for the whole Cradle and Darkness thing then I would consider settling down here.

Oh right… The Cradle…

The night I received the book I had sat down to look through it. I was shocked to find that it was written in some completely foreign language made up of symbols and shapes but I was even more shocked to learn that I could read them! Curious, I showed Alex to see what she thought of them. "Looks like a bunch of random shapes to me." She had said.

The whole book was about The Darkness. It described in detail the powers and abilities the darkness possessed as well as how to use them. As it turns out, there are multiple stances that I had to learn to activate certain attacks or 'Spells' as the book kept calling them. The book had been a great help when it came to learning about my powers. Alexandra has been helping me train them as well as teach me some hand to hand combat and fighting skills. Her dream was to be the world's greatest martial artist.

Anyway, back to the book. Not only did it have information on my powers but it also talked about The Cradle. There wasn't much, but it was enough to give me an idea of what I was up against. Let me tell you, it was not what I expected.

I had come across the page on the second night here. I was up in the room Alex and I were sharing while she was taking in the laundry. I was flipping through the book, not really reading anything, when the symbols seemed to jump out at me. They rearranged themselves and moved as if they were insects, spelling out a new word in a language only I seemed to know how to read.

'The Cradle'

Below it was a small paragraph. It read:

_Welcome to The Cradle. _

_The structure was founded centuries ago by one of the City's elite citizens after his only child was swept away by an angry tide never to be seen or heard again. But the line of the founder grew weak then vanished altogether, their estates in ruin and their deeds forgotten. And now everybody calls it simply 'The Cradle.' _

I was a little confused. I thought that 'The Cradle' would have been some sort of cult or society, a group even! I didn't expect to find out it was a building! But the paragraph didn't say much. What was The Cradle? Was it a store? A hospital? Orphanage?

It seemed each time I finally answered one of my many questions, twenty more popped up!

That was when Alexandra walked in and I looked up at her to greet her. When I looked back down at the page the symbols had rearranged themselves back to how they were before.

Since then I have yet to get any more information about The Cradle.

"Oi! Asa! You ready to start training today!?" Alexandra called from outside. I glanced up and smiled to myself. I really enjoyed training with Alex. She took it very seriously and I admired her for that.

"Yeah! Coming!" I ran out the door.

* * *

"Yosh! Whatever happens from now on, on this left arm is the mark of a nakama!" Luffy announced putting his left arm out. Everyone followed his example and displayed their left arm (or wing) each one having a small white bandage wrapped around it. Under the bandage was a black X. Luffy took in the faces of his crew, smiling brightly despite how wrong it felt doing this without Asa. "Now, let's get on dry land! To find Asa and to eat! Oh, and Alabasta…"

Most of the crew rolled their eyes. Since when had Alabasta become the last thing on their priority list?

Luffy went over to the railing staring out at Alabasta. He fidgeted slightly, eager to get on the island to look for Asa. They were NOT leaving until she was found. For now though he tried his best to act as normal as possible. The whole crew did. It was obvious though that they all wanted to find Asa.

Nami stepped forward when they docked safely. "Listen everyone, I'm only going to say this once. I expect you all to be on your best behavior at all times." She ordered sounding more like a mother.

"Okay, Nami-san~!" Sanji agreed.

"The guy you have to worry about the most already took off." Zoro informed.

They all looked over to see Luffy charging into town. Screaming "FOOD!"

"OI! WAIT!"

Luffy ran as fast as he could. Despite his yells he was actually going to go looking for Asa.

And food, but that could wait.

He almost stumbled when he thought that.

When the rubber boy was sure he came far enough into town, he slowed his pace down to a walk. The captain looked around taking in the sites. It really was a beautiful place. If he recalled correctly he remembered Nami saying it was called… Nanaham? Nonahara? Nonoh- Oh forget it.

Luffy continued to walk around for the better part of an hour, often stopping to ask if people had seen a brown haired girl with green eyes and a pretty smile. Most men he asked just laughed making a strange comment along the lines of "You should hold on to your women better!" or "It's a shame you lost her. Someone else is bound to pick her up!" He really had no idea what they were talking about but that last comment made him worry even more. _Was she going to be kidnapped? _

By the end of the second hour, not only was Luffy still hungry but he was about to tear his hair out in frustration. He had found nothing that suggested Asa had been here! For all he knew she wasn't and she could still be back on Drum!

He was just about to take a break and get something to eat when a soft tug on his hand brought his attention down to a little blonde girl. He flopped down in front of her, sitting with his legs crossed. "Hi!" The girl greeted.

"Hi! I'm Luffy, I'm going to be king of the pirates!" He told her smiling brightly.

The girl didn't seem fazed by this. "Are you looking for the sad lady?"

Luffy's smile dropped only to be replaced by a looked of hope. "Sad lady? What did she look like?"

The little girl thought for a moment. "She had pretty brown hair and a nice smile. She was really nice!" Luffy felt his spirits lifted at the news but he gave the girl a look of confusion when she continued. "But she had very sad eyes."

"Sad?" Luffy repeated quietly. He didn't like the idea of Asa being sad.

The girl nodded. "She said she had to leave her friends."

"Did she say why?"

Again she nodded. "To protect them. From the monsters."

Luffy frowned. Monsters? Before he could ask the girl more, a voice called over in their direction.

"Clara! Come on sweetheart!"

Clara looked at Luffy once more before turning around and running to her father. Luffy sat there in the street before smiling his widest smile in what seemed like forever. Finally! At least he knew she was on the island! Excitedly he ran to find the nearest restaurant to get something to eat. In the back of his mind he was still worried about what Clara had said. _What monsters? _But he decided not to think too much about it, it would only lead to a headache.

He would help her fight the monsters. But the better news was that she missed them just as much as they missed her.

* * *

"Okay, concentrate. Move your arms in a smooth motion to your right then back across to your left." I followed Alex's instructions. "Now, feel the energy flow from your heart to your hands. Imagine the energy taking shape then let it follow your orders." Alex spoke in a calm voice. I did as she asked evoking the now familiar burning sensation behind my eyes. The energy moved into my hands and I ordered it to form a sphere. It did as I asked and a ball of darkness was hovering just above my hand. I had to contain my excitement in favor of concentrating. "Hold it." I held the shape for as long as I could before I felt the energy in my body drain. The sphere twitched and spazzed before dissipating and reabsorbing into my skin.

Alexandra clapped. "Wow, 5 minutes! That's a personal best!"

I smiled and looked at her. She was leaning against the back of the house reading from the transcript I wrote out. Because she couldn't read the book, I had to go through and translate most of it for her. It took forever!

"Are we done for the day?" I asked hopefully. Alexandra laughed.

"Yes. We're done. We still have to do chores though so I would go change if I were you."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me up. We went into the house and I went upstairs while she went to the kitchen to do dishes. I noticed the book on my bed and decided to read a bit more before I had to wake up the kids from their nap and take them out to the market. Their father was in the royal army and was hardly ever home, while their mother owned a shop. The couple had been desperate for a babysitter which was one of the reasons they let us live here.

I flopped on the bed and opened the book. I came across the page I had found a few days back, the one with the moving symbols and I was excited to see them moving again. They spelt out the same title but this time the passage was different. It read:

_The Cradle was a thick building, its massive stone walls and towers bearing resemblance to a prison rather than a shelter. The halls were dark and draughty with high domed ceilings and tall windows, which lends it a grand aspect but does little to ensure its warmth. And once they started to move children in the North Tower to make room for the 'special residents', the gates and walls were reinforced and the visiting hours stretched thin until vanished altogether, there was little doubt what the City's council decided to make out of it. _

_They didn't call it a shelter anymore because you were safer there. They called it shelter because everyone else was safe from you._

One blink and the words were gone.

I leant back and looked at the ceiling. So The Cradle is in fact a building. A shelter, supposedly or an asylum. But why keep children in an asylum? Why did the old hag describe it the way she did?

What did she say? It lives, it breathes, it talks… it lies? How can a building do all those things?

Sighing, I got up to get the children.

I lead the two children down the market street, they chatted and laughed, pointing at things they found interesting. The young girl suddenly pulled my hand. "Can we go play with our friends?" I looked over to see a group of kids waving them over and smiled.

"Sure just be home in time for dinner." I watched the kids run off and play, happy for the break. I walked up to a stand and conversed with the owner as I inspected the fruit, trying to find the ripest ones. Suddenly a man walked up beside me.

"Sorry to interrupt," He started and I froze. I knew that voice. "But would either of you happen to know this person?"

I glanced up through my veil to see the one and only Portgas D. Ace holding up a wanted poster of his brother to me and the woman at the stand. I gulped trying not to scream with delight.

Acting casual I glanced over Ace's shoulder to see Zoro, Nami, Ussop and Chopper standing there staring at Ace with suspicion. My heart beat quickened. How did I not notice them before? The woman's voice brought my attention back.

"Monkey D. Luffy?" She read in confusion.

"There's a chance he might be in this town. I've been looking around here for a little while now." Ace explained.

"I've never seen him." The woman answered. Ace sighed. I glanced at him. _Should I?_

_..._

_Yes, yes I should._

"Luffy huh? Have you tried a restaurant?" I asked.

Ace face-palmed. "Of course!" Then he stopped and looked at me but I had already turned and started walking in the opposite direction of the Straw hats, hopefully out of hearing range. "Wait! How did you know where I should look? Are you a friend of Luffy's?"

I looked down at my shopping list as he walked beside me, trying not to seem too interested in the conversation. "Hm, you could say that."

"I'm Ace by the way. What's your name?" Ace stuck his hand out but I hesitated.

"A-Asa." I answered shaking his hand. I really didn't want to use that embarrassing fake name in front of one of the hottest guys in One Piece. He smiled at me and I just realized how attractive he really was. _I mean damn! _Sadly he wasn't my type though.

"So do you live here then?" Ace asked as we stopped at another stand. In the back of my mind I was wondering why he was still following me, I gave him the information he wanted right? Is it because he found out I knew his brother?

"No just staying here temporarily. What about you? You come looking for your brother?" I asked, moving on to the next shop. Ace stopped walking and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. I turned around and winked at him, an action he barely caught through my veil, before turning around and running.

_Oh look, here's me being dramatic again! _

_Who am I kidding, it's just so much fun!_

**Asa: Things are getting interesting.**

**Ang3l: They are indeed! Check out my profile for what to expect next chapter! Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts:)**

**Until next time!**


	11. The Reunion of Brothers and Friends

**Ang3l: Hey! **

**Asa: How's it hanging?**

**Ang3l: Everyone seemed to really like the last chapter! I hope you'll like this one just as much.**

**Asa: You finally kept your promise too!**

**Ang3l: Yep! This is officially the longest chapter I have written so far! So here's your extra long chapter you were promised a long time ago:) **

**Chapter XI**

**Reunion of Brothers and Friends.**

A wall of fire exploded through the streets covering the sky and separating the Straw hats from the pursuing Marines. The pirates stop running and turned around in shock. Some of them immediately recognized the man who had been looking for their captain while the others were totally confused as to why this random person would help them. Much to their amazement fire licked up the man's shoulders and arms. A collective thought was shared throughout the crew. _Who is this person?_

Well, the whole crew except one.

Luffy was probably the most shocked out of all of them. There stood his brother, right in front of him. The same brother that left their island when Luffy was 14. The same brother who would always punch him in the head and call him a cry baby.

_Ace…_

"That guy has a Devil Fruit ability?" Zoro asked. If this man was their enemy then he just got a whole lot more dangerous.

"Who the hell is he?" Ussop mumbled staring in awe. "Why is he helping us?"

The crew looked over at Luffy as he stepped forward and addressed the man. "Ace!"

Ace looked over his shoulder and smirked at his little brother. "You never change, Luffy."

"Ace… It's Ace! You ate a Devil Fruit!?" The rubber boy asked getting more and more excited.

"Yeah, the Mera Mera Fruit." Ace took notice of the Marines collecting themselves and falling into line again. He took a battle stance. "Anyway, we can't talk like this! I'll catch up later! You guys run for it! I'll keep these guys busy!"

Without hesitation Luffy turned around and bolted, calling for his crew to follow. They struggled to keep up as they lugged the supplies with them.

"Who the hell is that?" Sanji asked. Luffy only grinned and kept running.

It was Nami who asked next. "Wait, Luffy. Just who was that?"

"Is he someone you know, Luffy-san?" Vivi chipped in, just as curious as the rest of them.

"Yeah," Luffy said finally answering them. "He's my brother!"

The crew's eyes widened. Not just because Luffy had a brother that none of them knew about but also because of the amount of pride that was put into that sentence. The crew had only ever heard that tone on the rare occasion that he spoke about Shanks or his Straw hat! This Ace person must be someone he truly looks up too.

The shock was quickly overcome by the dire need to escape and they focused on running. Zoro had tossed a barrel to Luffy so he wasn't the only one not carrying anything. They had just about reached the edge of town when a large explosion caused them to stop. The crew looked back from where they came to see a massive ball of smoke and fire fly into the air and dissipate.

Nami turned to Luffy once more. "Is that guy really your brother?"

She was answered with a simple "Yeah! He's Ace!"

"Well I'm not surprised you have a brother but what's he doing on the Grand Line?" Zoro asked shifting the barrel on his shoulder.

"Ace is a pirate. He left our island three years before me in search of One Piece."

Everyone looked back at the swirling elements that were coming from the fight.

"A-Anyway, let's hurry back to the ship. We should get out of here before they come after us." Nami ordered.

They turned around and continued running. Luffy however wanted to continue to watch the fight and started running backwards so when Nami told everyone to go left, he took the wrong left.

* * *

Luffy sat in the kitchen of the Going Merry with his brother and Ussop. Sanji was at the sink washing the dishes. After having gotten lost, Luffy ran into his brother again. They beat up some of baroque works billions and reminisced the old times. He really liked being with his brother again. He hadn't realized how much he really missed him. Luffy also enjoyed introducing Ace to his crew, they all seemed to get along pretty well and he was glad for that.

Ace watched his kid brother play with the Onigiri that was served by Sanji. The pyro couldn't help smiling at seeing how happy Luffy was here. Ace thought back to everything he had to go through just to find the rubber idiot. The boy was troublesome even when he wasn't around. He rested his cheek against his fist.

Suddenly he remembered something from early and sat up straighter. He looked over at Luffy and blinked at the younger boy. "Oi, Luffy. Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Asa?"

At the mention of the girls name Luffy gasped and ended up chocking on a bite of Onigiri. Ace raised an eyebrow at him. Was that supposed to be a yes? When the boy stopped spluttering and coughing he turned to his brother with wide eyes. Ace had also seemed to catch the full attention of the sniper and cook as well.

"Asa!? You saw her!? Where is she!? Is she okay!? Did she look sick!? Was she injured!? What did she say!? Wh-"

"Woah! Calm down!" Ace said raising his hands to try and stop the boy's barrage of questions. He really didn't expect this kind of reaction! "So you do know her then. I ran into her when I was looking for you around town. She told me where you might be."

Luffy leaned forward holding onto his brothers every word. Before he could say anything however Sanji spoke up.

"So Asa is in Alabasta!" The cook said going into love mode at the thought the girl.

"This is great! Now we can get her back!" Ussop stated excitedly.

"Did she say anything else?" Luffy asked, oddly enough, being the logical one in this situation.

Ace looked between the three crewmates. It was odd seeing Luffy get this hyped up over a girl. Was his little brother finally growing up?

Ace almost scoffed. _No way, she's probably just one of his nakama. He does get pretty protective over his friends._

"Well, I asked her if she lived in Alabasta but she said she was only here temporarily. She also seemed to know we were brothers. I'm assuming you told her." Ace said.

Luffy blinked at him. "I never told her that."

"It might be because she's psychic." Ussop suggested, remembering what she told them when Nami was ill.

Ace hummed. "A psychic huh? So what, is she a part of the crew?"

Luffy frowned and shook his head. "No, I want her to be but she left before I could ask."

"Do you know why she left then?"

Ussop and Sanji shook their heads but to their surprise Luffy nodded. "You know why she left? How?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette.

Luffy looked at his cook. "I ran into a little girl when I was looking around town. She said that she knew Asa and that Asa was sad because she had to leave her friends to protect them from the monsters."

Ussop's knees started shaking at the mention of monsters but he tried to hide it. "Monsters!? Ha! I can take on a million monsters any day! That's why they call me CAPTA-"

Sanji clonked him on the head. "Not now idiot."

Sanji frowned and sighed. Even though it was something, it wasn't much to go on. "We should probably inform the rest of the crew so they can keep an eye out for her. In the mean time you two can come dry the dishes."

Ussop and Luffy groaned as Ace looked on in amusement.

* * *

I walked in through the front door and didn't stop to say hello to Alex. I bolted straight up to our room and grabbed my back pack. Making sure I had my camera with me I shoved the book into the bag, grabbed the cloak I had bought and threw them on. When I got back downstairs Alexandra came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. She noticed what I was wearing and smiled brightly. "They're here aren't they?" She asked. I nodded excitedly.

"I'm ready to go back now."

She stared at me calculatingly. "Are you sure? You still need a lot of practice with your powers." She reminded.

"I'm ready." I stated my voice laced with determination. "I can control my powers enough to be able to avoid hurting anyone. That's all I need right now." I put my hands on my hips and grinned at her. "So? Do you want me to introduce you to them or not?"

Her grin grew into a full out smile and she ran upstairs to gather her stuff. As she did that I wrote a quick thank you note to the family and left it on the table with the last of our rent (and a little extra). In no time at all Alex and I were making our way out of Nanohana.

We walked in comfortable silence for the first few hours before Alexandra spoke. "Um… Where are we going?"

"To Rainbase of course!" I told her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?"

I rolled my eyes. "To meet up with Luffy and the others!" _Wow it's like she's never seen the show before! _

"But uh… If I remember correctly, don't the Straw hats go to Yuba first?" She said slowly watching me carefully. I blinked my smile faltering. My pace slowed the more I thought about it. Thirty seconds later I slapped a hand to my forehead and groaned. _You freaking idiot!_

"I must have been so excited I wasn't thinking properly! What do we do!? We've been walking for hours!" I'm not gonna lie. I was freaking out a bit. Then another thought struck me.

"We don't have any water do we…"

I sunk to my knees in depression. This was my entire fault! Now I'm gonna die in the desert before I get to see Luffy again! Uh… I mean Luffy and the others! Hehe…he…

Alexandra came up to me and patted me on the back. "Don't blame yourself. I didn't exactly remember either. But we do have to do something! How long will it be before Luffy and the others reach Rainbase?"

I looked up at her, having to block out the sun with my hand. _Ugh, Its so hot!_

"Not for a days at least. It'll take them awhile to get through the desert and that's only to Yuba!"

She nodded and hummed in thought. "Well we might as well keep walking, otherwise we're never going to get there. We'll figure it out as we go."

I nodded, knowing we didn't really have much of a choice. It was either walk a long way and hope to god we live long enough to see the next town, or sit here and basically dry up. Which would you choose?

I stood up and began pushing forwards, neither of us said anything in a desperate effort to save our energy. I wasn't going to let a little thing like a desert keep me from seeing Luffy …. and the others… again! I would get to Rainbase even if it killed me! Except then there would be no point because I'd be dead and….

_Ugh… I think my brain melted…_

It wasn't until the sun started to set that Alex and I come across another problem.

We were on the wrong side of the Sandora River.

We stood at the bank trying to come up with a way to get across. Our brain's had completely evaporated a few hours back so neither of us could come up with a good idea. I found myself wanting to drink the water more so then get across it. So hot… so thirsty… so hungry…

Alexandra and I both groaned and flopped on our backs. I winced when a corner of the book in my back pack jabbed me between my shoulder blades. I rolled over to take the bag off so I could lie more comfortably when an idea struck me. Something that I remembered from reading the book! I pulled it out of my bag and quickly flipped through pages trying to find the right one.

_Nope… Nope… Not it…. Nada…. N-AHA! Here it is!_

I quickly read through how to perform the spell before clapping the book shut and putting it away. Standing up I slowly raised my arm in front of me, in the direction of the river with my palm to the ground. Taking a deep breath, I curled my fingers into my palm before opening it back up again. I felt the burning in my eyes as a small amount of Dark energy formed below my hand. Concentrating, I ignored Alexandra moving to stand beside me and sent the energy towards the water. It absorbed into the liquid and instantly turned it black, the darkness spread from that one spot all the way across the river making a long strip of black about as wide as a side walk from one bank to the other.

Sweat beaded on my head from the strain of concentrating but I held on as I slowly walked forward. Cautiously I placed on foot on top of the black bridge and was relieved when it held. Keeping my hand stretched out I motioned for Alexandra to follow.

In no time at all we both set foot on the other side and I released my concentration. The darkness returned to me and the water took on its natural colour once more. I gave Alex a weak smile as I tried to step forward only to collapse. My legs felt like jelly all of the sudden. She caught me before I hit the ground and lowered me down gently. "That was amazing Asa! How'd you do that?"

"Apparently I can combine the Darkness with water. It's like a natural conductor but it only works with water. It makes it easier to control the darkness when it's combined which is why I could hold it for so long." I explained. I was breathing pretty heavily from the excursion but other than feeling exhausted I think I was okay.

Alexandra laid me down and we decided to call it a night. The sun was setting now and it wouldn't be safe to travel at night. The red head pulled out the blankets but with there being so few we had to curl up together for extra warmth. It's a good thing we were both girls, otherwise this would have been rather awkward.

After we were both cozy, lying with our backs pressed together, I heard a soft whisper from Alex. "Your eyes change you know."

I glanced over my shoulder at her. "What?"

"Your eyes. When you use your powers. They turn black."

I really didn't know what to say. Was that what the burning feeling was? I didn't know that they turned black! "Well… that's pretty cool…"

"I thought so too." Alex agreed.

We both giggled before letting sleep take us, neither of us dreamt of anything that night.

* * *

It was two days later.

Two of the longest days of my life. Between fighting off weird desert animals, multiple collapses of exhaustion and dehydration (for both of us), freezing our butts off at night and almost going completely insane I can honestly say I hate the desert.

_We have to close! _

It didn't really help that neither of us knew what direction we were going in.

I had lost all capability to think at this point. My throat was so dry I often thought I tasted blood. I didn't need to look at Alexandra to know that she was just as bad as I was.

My vision blurred and I stumbled, falling to my knees. Alexandra slowly came over to help me up but both of our attention was drawn to something else.

We stared as the strange thing came to stop in front of us. It was a… turtle wearing a Stetson… smoking a cigarette and pulling a weird carriage that looked like a cross between a tank and a mushroom… with an alligator on top.

"I think I've finally lost it." Said Alexandra with a hoarse voice. I nodded.

My brain promptly shut itself down when the ugliest ballerina ever, walked out of the mushroom tank.

I blacked out, not being able to handle the weirdness.

* * *

The next time I opened my eyes, I was pleased to know that I wasn't in some dream from my world. That always seemed to happen when I really didn't need it to. I was however not too pleased with finding myself tied to a chair and gagged in what looked to be an office.

_How the heck did I get here? Where exactly is 'here'? _

The door to my left (which I just noticed) opened and a very familiar person walked in.

_Robin!_

But if she's here then that means… I'm at Rain Dinners! Thank god!

Well… that was good and bad… Good because Luffy would show up soon and bad because Crocodile was here too.

Robin walked up to me carrying a glass of water that I couldn't help but stare longingly at. I wasn't as thirsty as I was before which made me wonder if they were hydrating me when I was unconscious, but I was still really parched. She untied my gag and lifted the glass to my mouth before I could say anything.

When I had gulped down all the contents she was just about to put the gag back on but I stopped her by asking "How did I get here?"

She looked at me with cold eyes and I almost shivered at the pain that lay behind them. "Baroque Works number agents ran across you in the desert. They were going to leave you and your friend until you started talking about Monkey D. Luffy in your sleep." She explained in a harsh tone.

I looked at her with half lidded eyes. If my hands were available I'd slap myself right now.

Robin moved to put the gag on but I pulled my head back out of the way. "Wait! What about the other girl who was with me? Where is she?" I asked quickly.

Robin rolled her eyes. _Jeez she puts on this evil person act really well. _"She escaped." Was the answer I got. Relief flooded through me. _At least Alexandra was safe. _The gag was tied around my mouth once more and the chair I was sitting in was shoved up against the far wall. Robin left without another word.

I had to get out of here. I don't know how long I was out for but Luffy and the others would be here soon and this room was gonna flood. I looked around from my new position. There was a sea stone cage that the Straw hats would soon be kept in and a large banquet table with a nice variety of rich foods. Behind the table was a large window that seemed to lead out into water and every so often a weird crocodile thing would swim by.

I struggled to free my hands, pulling at the ropes. This only served to give me really bad rope burn and I growled around the gag in frustration.

I only had to wait about an hour before I could hear distinct screams coming from above. If I wasn't gagged I'd be smiling like an idiot right now.

Luffy, Ussop, Nami, Zoro and Smoker hit the ground of the cage with a loud thump. They al groaned as they got up and I wiggled in my chair, trying harder than ever to get out. _They're right there! I finally came back and I can't even… Ugh!_

Luffy and Ussop walked up to the bars. "A clever trap indeed." Luffy said, trying to make it sound like they didn't just make a stupid mistake.

"Yes, we couldn't help but fall for it." Ussop agreed.

"It was TOTALLY avoidable!" Their navigator yelled at the two idiots. I almost broke down crying right there. _I missed you guys so much! _

"But more importantly I keep feeling my strength draining away…" Luffy moaned as he clung to the bars.

"What's wrong?" Ussop asked. "You hungry or something?"

"LUFFY!"

Before the rubber boy could react to his first mates warning he was knocked and pinned to the floor by Smoker. I winced as the Marines jutte dug into Luffy's chest. I pulled at my bindings even harder causing my wrists to bleed slightly but I didn't notice. _I have to help!_

"What the… My strengths all drained out… It feels like I fell into the ocean or something…"

"What did you do to Luffy?" Nami demanded.

"The end of my jutte is made of a mineral called Kairouseki." Smoker said, he went and explained the properties of sea stone and that the bars of the cage were made of it too. I ignored him in favor of getting these damn ropes off. I had yet to be noticed thank goodness because I felt the bindings around my feet loosen a bit.

"She's right. Just give up." A voice spoke, addressing the people who were about to start a fight in the cage. I froze and slowly glanced up.

_Crocodile…_

When did he show up?

"You're all going to be dying together. Why not try and get along?" The man said in a calm voice.

"Crocodile." Mumbled smoker.

Luffy growled. "What?!" He looked up from his place on the cage floor as Crocodile spun around on his chair to face everyone.

The sandman's dark hair was slicked back and he had a nasty scar running horizontally under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose. Luffy glared.

I slunk back in the chair, a little less anxious to get out now that he was in the room.

"So he's one of the Shichibukai…" Zoro said, standing with his hand on his swords.

Smoker glared. "Our long awaited guest as finally showed up." The marine said around his two cigars. _Could you be any more unhealthy? Seriously… Smoke or not, I bet you can still get cancer!_

"Oh-ho, so the rumors about you being a wild dog are true, Smoker-kun." He said in a teasing tone. "You never thought of me as an ally. Although of course, you were correct. Smoker, I think I shall have you die in an unfortunate accident. I'll inform the Government that you fought bravely against this pathetic Straw Hat pirate here. I don't know why you came to this country, but you are obviously acting of your own accord. The Government would never send you here. They believe in the Shichibukai you see." Crocodile spoke as he walked around his desk, towards the cage.

Luffy punched the ground and struggled to stand. I looked over at him with wide eyes. "So you're Crocodile!?" He finally stood and grabbed onto the bars in anger. "Oi! You! Fight me…" The rubber boy trailed off when the sea stone took effect and he slumped to the ground.

"Can't you get it into your head NOT to touch the cage!?" Ussop yelled.

"Straw Hat Luffy." Crocodile addressed. "I congratulate you for coming this far. I'll kill you properly in due time so please be patient. Our guest of Honor has yet to arrive."

I glared at him for speaking like that to Luffy. _How dare he belittle him!? _

"Guest of Honor?" Nami wondered, sweating nervously.

We all waited for a moment for something to happen. When nothing did, Luffy and Ussop resorted to doing impressions to pass the time, while I went back to quietly trying to escape. My wrists had been rubbed raw by now and I bit down tightly on the gag to keep from hissing each time the ropes would dig in.

Crocodile had set himself down at the banquet table to wait patiently.

Nami had finally gotten fed up with the idiots fooling around and punched them in the head, yelling at them. She then turned to Zoro and punched him for napping.

"You're an authoritative young lady, aren't you?"

Nami turned to Crocodile with her hands on her hips. "What about it? Enjoy that little ego trip of your while you can! Once this guy busts out of this cage, he'll knock your worthless hide above the clouds! Isn't that right Luffy?" She said proudly, pointing to her Captain.

"HELL YEAH! BRING IT ON!"

_You tell him Nami! _I thought, proud that she stood up for Luffy.

"Your crew puts a lot of faith in you as a captain, Straw Hat Luffy." A crocodile swam by the window. "Trust. Heh, it's the most useless thing in the entire world."

Nami clenched her fists in anger. "What's with this prick? Making fun of us…!"

Ussop ran over to try and calm her down.

"CROCODILE!" A voice yelled.

"Vivi!" Ussop , Nami and Luffy called.

"Welcome, Princess of Alabasta, Vivi. Or rather, Miss Wednesday. You've done an admirable job slipping through the hands of our assassins." Crocodile complemented.

"I'd come to you." She spat angrily. "No matter where you'd hide! I'd come to see you die! Mr. 0. If you had never set foot in my country…" Vivi ran forward, pulling out her peacock slashers and ignoring the warnings from Luffy. "… Alabasta would have been at peace!"

Just before Vivi let out her attack, I felt my chair suddenly move. My eyes widened in horror as one of Crocodiles hands pulled me across the room in front of Vivi. I watched Vivi's eyes grow with shock and she tried to pull out of the attack. She managed to redirect it so it didn't take my head off but I received a small scratch on my cheek.

_WAY TO CLOSE!_

"ASA!" I heard my name called from the Straw Hats and I would have smiled if I wasn't almost killed just then. "What are you doing here!?"

* * *

Luffy leaned closer to the bars being careful not to touch them. _What was Asa doing here? Why did Crocodile have her? _He felt his anger boil at seeing her bound up.

Crocodile let out a malicious laugh. "I don't think you want to try that again." The Shichibukai said to Vivi. "Found this little thing wandering around the desert. She made the mistake of mentioning your name Straw Hat. I assume she's a friend of yours, so unless you want to see her floating with the fish then I wouldn't try something like that again."

Crocodile grabbed a fist full of Asa's hair pulling her head up as if he was displaying her to the people in the room. Luffy grabbed the bars of the cage until his knuckles turned white. Not caring that every ounce of energy he had disappeared in an instant. The crew stared at him and had they not been waiting to see what he was going to do, they wouldn't have heard his rage filled whisper.

"Don't touch her." Their captain was positively trembling with hate. Crocodile ignored him and shoved Asa away, her chair slid back, and smacked into the cage before falling on its side causing a yelp to escape the girl. The captain let go of the cage and quickly went over to where she landed. He just managed to squeeze his hand through the bars to untie her gag. Nami and Ussop came to kneel beside him.

* * *

I felt the gag around my mouth loosen and I spat it out, sticking my tongue out in disgust. My head hurt from that bastard pulling my hair and from hitting the floor but I didn't worry about it right now. I looked over my shoulder and smiled at Luffy, Nami and Ussop. They returned looks of worry. "Man, I've really missed you guys!" I said happily.

They smiled a bit. "We've missed you too!"

"This isn't exactly the reunion I had in mind... Can you by any chance get my hands free?"

Luffy looked over his shoulder. "Oi! Zoro!" The swordsman got up without a word and carefully cut the ropes through the bars. When my hands were free, I leant down and untied my feet. I got up, rubbing my wrists with my hands. Looking over, I noticed that Crocodile had forced Vivi to sit at the table and he walked over to the cage.

I backed up until I was pushed up against the bars, not wanting to be anywhere near that man. He stopped a good distance away but I felt someone grab my hand gently. Turning, I looked at Luffy through the metal cage and smiled. He returned it and gave my hand a light squeeze.

I would have blushed if Crocodiles voice didn't cause me to sneer in hate.

"Operation Utopia has begun!"

**Asa: Well we hope you enjoyed this!**

**Ang3l: I also wanted to say that I am no longer accepting OC's but thank you to everyone that helped out! When I first started this story I was just kind of writing randomly. I had no idea where I wanted to take this. Now I have a plot forming in my head! It's going to start getting exciting! And also a little freaky... ;)**

**Asa: There will not be a Coming up on Ang3l's profile for next chapter! She doesn't even know whats going to happen yet so...**

**Until Next time!**


	12. Punching Crocodile and Revealing Powers

**Ang3l: This chapter felt really short compared to the last one...**

**Asa: Nothing really special about this one. Read and enjoy regardless!**

**Chapter XII**

**Punching Crocodile and Revealing Powers**

"What are you planning to do with Alabasta?" Vivi demanded, glaring with ever last bit of hate that she had in her. Crocodile laughed. _Why did bad guys always have an evil laugh? It was just weird…_

"Shall I tell you what type of person I despise the most?" The Shichibukai smirked as he watched Vivi struggle against her binds. I looked at her with sympathy and worry. _I know how that feels sister. _"It's those who place the happiness of their people above their own lives. Hypocrites."

"You plan on killing my father? You'll never accomplish that!"

"Don't look at me like that. I have no intention of doing so. From his death I would gain nothing. Cobra will experience a humiliation crueler than death."

I gripped Luffy's hand tightly. There were many things that were crueler then death. In the worst cases death became an escape.

"The Princess of a country shouldn't make such a scornful face." Crocodile chuckled. If I didn't already know how this would plan out then I would have gone over and kicked that bastard's ass by now. The two things holding me back were that I had no idea how me trying to fight him here would affect future events and I knew I had virtually no chance at beating him. I can't control my powers that well yet.

"I'll ask you again." Vivi growled out, way past furious by now. "What is 'Operation Utopia'?"

"Oi, oi. Do you fully grasp your current situation?"

"JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

Crocodile sighed in mock annoyance. "Well, the plan is already in motion. I think I'll share it with you. The plan to end this miserable country's existence, Operation Utopia!"

I had to force myself not to roll my eyes, despite the seriousness of the situation. _Really, how many times do you need to say the name! We get it! _

So, he did as promised. He told us his plan.

We all stared at him with mixed expressions of hate, anger and horror. He laughed again. "What do you think? Like my plan? The plan that you helped set up is now in full bloom. If you listen carefully, I bet you can hear them shouting throughout Alabasta. And their one driving thought: 'We will protect Alabasta.'"

If Luffy hadn't been rubber I probably would have broken his hand by now. Ever part of my being wanted to charge towards Crocodile and tear him limb from limb. _Scum like him shouldn't be allowed to live._

It was Vivi's desperate cry echoing through the room that caused me to snap. _Screw future events…_

I took a glance over at Luffy as I calmly took my hand from his. He looked back at me with confusion but underneath I could see the fire burning in his eyes. If it were possible for someone to gather all the hatred in this room and use it as a weapon then Crocodile would be dead 6 times over in less than a second.

Realization flashed in Luffy's eyes as I turned to Crocodile. Bringing my fist up to my mouth, I licked across my knuckles and began to stiffly walk towards him. He stopped laughing and looked at me with a smug expression. He was met with my fierce glare.

I broke into a run.

"Oi! Asa! Don't!" Luffy shouted in panic.

Nami gripped the cage bars eyes wide. "He'll kill you! What are thinking!?"

I ignored them, only focusing on that sick bastard's ugly face. Crocodile made no move to dodge as I pulled my arm back and shot it forward with all my might.

The last thing he expected was for it hit.

The Shichibukai was knocked on his back, staring up at the ceiling with a look of shock on his face. The others gawked at me. I panted as my anger diminished some. _Damn that felt good. _

Before I could shoot out a snarky comment I felt hands grab my wrists and pin them together behind my back as well as another hand gripping my hair, forcing my head back and exposing my neck. _Oops, forgot Robin was here…_

Crocodile had quickly gotten over his shock and stood up, revealing his golden hook. He smirked at me looking as calm as ever. I snarled, there was nothing more infuriating than indifference. "Well, well, well. We have a smart one here. I can't let you go around messing things up with that information now can I?" He moved a lock of my hair away from my face with the tip of his hook. The golden weapon glinted ominously in the corner of my eye. Crocodile dragged the end across my cheek and down to my neck being careful not to break skin but putting enough pressure to get his point across.

He signaled to Robin and I was flung across the room. I landed on his desk and slid across it, falling to the floor on the other side. Shouts of worry sounded from the cage. My head spun and my back ached as I tried to regain my senses. _That punch was still worth it. _I thought almost chuckling if a sharp pain didn't shoot up my spine.

* * *

Luffy could no longer contain his anger and he let out a furious yell. Try as he might there was no way for him to squeeze through the bars. He continued to try though. _Have to get to Asa. Have to beat Crocodiles ass. Have to help Vivi. _The words were like a mantra in his mind. Repeating the same thing over and over. Luffy even tried to chew through the metal but nothing worked.

What worried him the most was that Asa wasn't getting back up. He couldn't see the state she was in because of the desk but he kept reminding himself to trust her. _She's strong she'll be alright. _

Crocodile ignored Luffy's desperate struggles and turned to Vivi. I can remember all the hassle I had to go through to get this far. My maneuvers to incite the townspeople by destroying their towns, teaching my employees how to carry out abusive acts while pretending to be the Royal Army. And do you know why I want your kingdom so badly?"

"How could I understand what's in your rotted head!?" insulted Vivi.

"You really are a foul-mouthed princess."

Vivi suddenly tipped her chair over causing her to slam into the ground.

"Vivi!" Ussop shouted in worry.

"Oi, oi. What are you doing, Miss Wednesday?"

"I'll stop them. I can still make it in time! Alubarna is directly east of here! If I can get to Alubarna before the Rebel Army does then I can stop them!" Crocodile merely chuckled. "No matter what, I will not allow your plan to succeed!"

Vivi struggled along the ground, her movements hindered by her binds. She couldn't let him do this. She couldn't let this happen to her country. This was her home!

"What a coincidence." Crocodile spoke turning his back to Vivi. "We were just about to head for Alubarna as well. If you'd like to tag along, you're welcome to." He paused and looked back. "Or, will you save them instead?" He raised his hand to reveal a key.

Vivi looked at it nervously. "That's…" she started.

"The key for this cage!" Luffy finished. "Give me that! That key!"

Vivi fought against the ropes, watching as the man dropped the key. Seconds before it hit the ground she finally got her hands free and lunged forward.

But she was too late.

Crocodile hit a point in floor by his foot and caused a trap door to open. The key fell into the water that surrounded the room and was promptly eaten by one of the beasts. The crew looked on in horror. That was their only escape.

"I can't tell how long it will be before they start killing each other. Even traveling to Alubarna at your best speed, you still might not make it. If you want to stop the rebellion, I advise you to leave right away, Miss Wednesday. Or you can stay and save them. Too bad I accidentally dropped the key into the lower chamber. The Bananawani Den."

Crocodile snapped his fingers and the large doors in the room opened up. He and Robin turned to leave. "Well then, It's about time we were on our way. One more thing, this room will self-destruct in exactly one hour. This secret basement I used as the Baroque Works Presidential Office is of no further use to me. Water will flood into this room and it will sink to the bottom of Rainbase Lake. One million innocent people? Or four measly pirates with no future ahead of them?"

Vivi attempted to go after them but she gave up mid-way through her attack. The princess broke into tears. Luffy stared at her in anger and shock. _She is NOT giving up now!_

"VIVI! DO SOMETHING! GET US OUT OF HERE!"

"Begging for your life are you Straw Hat? I guess everyone fears death." Crocodile spouted.

Ussop glanced at his captain in distress. _What was he doing!?_

"If we… If we die here… WHO'S GONNA KICK HIS ASS!?"

With another snap of the fingers, Crocodile released a Bananawani into the room. "If you're going to abandon them, now's the time, Miss Wednesday. You want to stop the rebellion after all."

Vivi stared up at the massive creature. "It's so big…" She mumbled in fright. The Bananawani lunged at her and she just barely managed to dodge. Instead of her, it took a massive bit out of the stair case. It growled and swung its tail around, throwing Vivi across the room.

"VIVI! RUN!" Luffy yelled. This 'being stuck in a cage' thing was really pissing him off. He was being forced to watch his friends get hurt and that was killing him.

* * *

When the pain slowly ebbed away I groaned lightly and rolled on my side. Before I moved to get up I took a quick listen to see what point they were at. _Man, can Crocodile talk! _The ring of a Den Den Mushi filled the room and I smiled brightly. _Sanji!_

There was a slight pause and then "Hello? Hello? Is this thing working?"

I heard Robin's voice respond. "Yes, I can hear you. You're Millions, right?"

"Oi, is this getting through? I ain't ever used one of these baby Den Den Mushi's before."

"Yes it's working." A different voice sounded from the other end of the call. "Just keep talking into it."

"Just spit it out already. What happened?" Crocodile asked losing his patience.

"Ah, now I've heard that voice before. Hey, thanks for calling. This is the Shitty Restaurant."

"The Shitty Restaurant you say?"

"Eh? It sounds like you remember. I'm flattered."

I heard urgent whispers coming from the cage as they came to the realization of who was calling.

"Punk. Who the hell are you?"

"Me? You can just call me Mr. Prince."

_Yep, that's definitely Sanji._

"I see, Mr. Prince. Where are you?"

"Now I can't tell you that. If I did, you'd come to kill me. Although, whether or not you can kill me remains to be seen. I'm not foolish enough to let information carelessly slip out. Unlike you, Mr. 0."

Ussop couldn't hold it in any longer. "MR. PRINCE! COME SAVE US! WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT!"

"SAVE ME TOO!" Luffy yelled.

laughed. "Sounds like they're right there with you. My crew. Well, I guess I'll head over-"

Sanji's voice was cut off by a gun shot and a scream of pain. We all tensed and I pushed the desk chair away from me and grabbed the side of the desk. My back ached and I winced when I tried to pull myself up. Great, another bruise.

Crocodile finally turned and left after stopping Vivi from trying to leave and knocking her out in the process. I got my arm up on the desk and hoisted myself up. Taking in the area I noticed 3 things. Vivi was completely out of it, there was a massive Bananawani in the middle of the room and water was pouring in fast.

"Jeez! I'm out of it for a few minutes and this is what happens!? How did you guys ever survive without me!?" I yelled teasingly across the room. The Straw Hats snapped their heads in my direction and smiled.

"Asa! You're okay!" Ussop and Luffy cheered.

"That's my girl!" Nami said giving me a thumbs up.

Zoro smirked and crossed his arms, looking almost proud, while Smoker couldn't have cared less.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, the scissors broke my fall."

The loud growl of the Bananawani pulled my attention away from my friends. The beast was giving Vivi a hungry glare that caused me to gasp in panic. I jumped over the desk and bolted for the princess. As I ran I sent some energy to envelope my hand. When I had gotten close enough I swipped my hand as if I was trying to cut something and the disk of energy was sent flying. The dark object hit the Bananawani right in its open maw and exploded on impact. It fell over, smoke billowing from its mouth.

The Straw Hats were left eyes wide and jaws on the floor.

**Until next Time!**


	13. Lot's of Hugging and Freedom

**Ang3l: ...**

**Asa: Are you going to say something to the people you kept waiting for, what, weeks?**

**Ang3l: ... yes... **

**Asa: *Sighs* So get on with it!**

**Ang3l: I am very sorry for the late update. I also want to say sorry for the last chapter and this chapter because they really aren't my best work. I've kinda been loosing my motivation for this story which I desperately don't want to happen. I'm think you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it so I will try my best to stay on top of things. I probably won't update very often though. But don't you worry! March break isn't to far away and I always get a lot done over breaks because I get bored easily! Just hold off till then!**

**Asa: That wasn't so bad was it?**

**Ang3l: Meh...**

**Asa: Let us know what you think!**

**Chapter XIII**

**Lot's of Hugging and Freedom!**

The crew's reactions varied.

Zoro's eyes had widened considerably and his mouth was slightly agape. He had no idea that the girl had it in her! Not once did she show that kind of power at Little Garden or in their travels. Though something about the way her eyes glowed a deep black that made it look as if she had no eyes caused a shiver to run up his spine. The aura she gave off when she used that power was one of pure darkness, despite the large smile on her face.

Nami was stunned to silence. She stared in bemusement at the girl she had quickly considered a sister to her. How was this possible? The girl was as skinny as a twig and yet… Nami should know better by now then to judge people's appearances. Luffy was just as skinny and stick like and yet he was a monster. It was foolish of her to think that Asa could have just been a normal girl. Even still, that raw power was intense; it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up on end.

The sniper was staring at Asa with a look between horror and shock. Who could blame him though, the girl took out a bananawani with one hit! Not only that but she seemed to possess a Devil Fruit of some kind. His brain told him that that was the only logical answer despite the fact that they saw her swimming at Little Garden. Maybe she ate it after she left them? Ussop's mind couldn't handle the idea of another monster on the ship and he promptly shut down and opted to stare dumbly at the girl instead.

Smoker kept a straight face from his place on the bench but inside he was just as curious as the rest about how much power this one girl had.

And Luffy…

Well…

"THAT WAS AWESOME!"

He was awestruck.

I ran up to Vivi and helped her out of the way of danger. Grumbling in my head about how heavy unconscious people were. Just as I had gotten Vivi leaned up against the cage, Ussop shrieked and pointed behind me. I whipped around and gapped at the 3 bananawani glaring daggers at me. _This is just great…_

As if the situation couldn't have gotten any worse, a sharp crack sounded and the windows gave out, finally subduing to the pressure. The water level in the room started increasing much faster.

"THE WATER! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Luffy and Ussop freaked out.

"If this cage fills, we're done for!"

"OI! DAMN CROC GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT!" I turned around in surprise as Nami waved her fist through the cage at the animal. The hair on the back of my neck tingled and I dropped to the flooding floor in time to dodge a large snap of the Croc's jaw. Ussop spun around to Nami and demanded to know what she was thinking. "I'm getting it mad so it'll bite this damned cage open!" The navigator explained.

I jumped up again and huffed at her. "Well don't get me killed in the process!"

Quickly, I jumped to my left to dodge another attack and continued to do so as each Croc tried to take a bite out of me. In the corner of my eye I noticed Vivi groan and sit up. _Finally! She should've been gone to find Sanji by now! _Before she had a chance to regain her bearings I yelled over to her. "VIVI! GET OUT OF HERE AND FIND SANJI!"

The princess whipped her head up to look at me in shock. I dodged again. "HURRY!"

She jumped up and staggered slightly but ran towards the broken stairs, I could tell she was trying to think of a way to get up so I shot my hand in that direction, creating a black makeshift stairscase using the water on the floor. Much to my gratitude, she didn't stop to question but ran up them and out the door.

Sadly though, with my attention on the stairs I did not see the massive tail sweep around until it slammed into me. Every last ounce of air was forced from my lungs as I was thrown back into the direction of the cage, coming down into the ever rising water with a large splash. I vaguely heard shouts of worry through my water logged ears.

Wincing as I climbed to my feet I pressed a gentle hand on my stomach and hissed. That was sure to be a large bruise. The beast growled at me and I growled right back. _So you want to play it that way huh? _

I charged up some energy in my hands and sent it into the water. Shaping the water into long spears and hurtling them at the bananawani. Multiple hit and sunk deep in the scales.

I continued to fight the monsters. Ever step was becoming harder however, because of the raising water level, which was now up to my thighs. One of the creatures spun around with amazing speed for something so huge and opened its jaw to clamp down on me. I stared with wide, scared eyes, knowing I couldn't dodge. _I can't die! I just got back! I just came home! _

I snapped my eyes shut and waited for the inevitable fate that would come.

And I waited.

And waited.

_Am I dead already? Jeez, that was less painful than I expected…_

A very familiar voice told me otherwise. "Never make any noise while eating your meal."

I cracked opened my eyes in time to see the thing that was just about to kill me fly into the air and land a little ways away. Dead or unconscious I wasn't sure but I wasn't paying attention to that anyway.

My savior took a drag of his cigarette. "Hey there. Did I keep you waiting?"

I could've sworn my face split in half at the sight of the cook. Not even bothering to contain myself I bolted towards him and tackled him in a big bear hug. Miraculously he was able to keep his balance and saved us both from getting more wet then we already were. "Sanji!" I squealed. Ever since I rejoined with everyone I was itching to hug someone! Considering the others were locked up Sanji was the only available one for hugging.

Sanji blinked in shock. Multiple emotions flashed across his face between confusion, surprise, happiness, wonder and delight before settling on classic love-cook mode.

I let him go and watched him fawn over me, my smile never faltering. "Ah! Asa-chan! I knew you would return to me my love! Our fates are tied for all eternity and I shall forever be your humble servant."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved dismissively. "It's great to see you again Sanji!"

Ussop and Luffy were practically in tears. " ! WE'RE SAVED!" They cried.

"Stop screwing around and find the key NOW!" Zoro snapped.

He was ignored by the cook who apparently found better things to do. "Nami-saaaan~! Do you love me now!?"

"Yes, yes. I do. Now open the door!"

"Comiiing~!"

"His stupidity has no limits…"

"VIVI! GOOD JOB!" Luffy shouted. I looked over to see her at the top of the broken stairs. I was about to smile and wave at her when another problem arouse. More bananawani filled the room. _My gosh! How many of these things does Crocodile have?_

"Well, look at 'em all coming together."

"Go Sanji! Beat 'em all up!"

Sanji raised his leg up and prepared to attack. "No matter how big a bunch you are, just try and beat me, you shitty bananas. Any shitheads rude enough to attack a lady need some table manners beaten into them."

"Sanji! There's no time!" Ussop tried to reason.

"Take out the third one that just entered the room." Smoker grumbled from his seat on the bench. _Has he even moved since we got here? _I sweat-dropped. _Man, laziness on top of Cancer? This guy's got it bad…_

I tilted my head and crossed my arms in a thoughtful manner. Where did Mr. 3 come into this again? _I can't remember._

Sanji wasted no time in finishing off the Croc but instead of a key, some weird white ball came out of its mouth. I snapped my fingers in realization. _Riiighht~_

"That's not a key… What is it?"

A muffled sound came from inside and the top cracked open, resembling a hatching egg. Instead of an animal however, Mr. 3 (of all people) came out and upon seeing the fresh water around him decided to help himself. No one protested because the guy was so dehydrated that he looked like a raisin.

"Why were you inside the crocodile's stomach!?" Vivi asked.

Instead of giving a direct answer he began mumbling evilly to himself. "Crocodile, if you intend to be rid of me, you will have to do better. Right as I was about to be devoured by this beast, I used all of my remaining strength to make this Doru Doru Ball and…"

He trailed off when a key on the floor caught his eye. He bent over and picked it up. "Huh? What do we have here?"

Upon seeing the key Luffy, Nami and Ussop started yelling and grabbing through the bars desperate to get their hands on the one chance of freedom.

I walked towards Mr. 3 as he panicked when he saw the Straw Hat's but calmed down when he realized the situation. That is until Sanji walked up beside him, startling him out of his thoughts.

I walked up on his other side.

A light tap on his shoulder drew his attention before his face had a nice meeting with my fist.

"That's for the situation at Little Garden." I huffed at the man who was sprawled out in the water. It didn't take long for the man to jump back up and turn on me.

"That hurt you little witch! Just for that, I guess you won't be needing this!"

Before any of us knew it, the key was hurtled into the air. I gasped and shot my hands in it's direction. I could feel a slight headache coming on but I pushed it away and channeled my energy into the water. It slid through the clear liquid, turning it black until it was right under the key and with a raising motion of my hands the water shot up and incased the key in a baseball sized orb.

Another flick of the wrist and it was thrown back into my hands. After reabsorbing the darkness I held up the key triumphantly.

Mr. 3 pointed at me in horror. "You are a witch!"

Sanji's look of shock turned to one of anger at the comment. He promptly kicked Mr. 3 in the stomach. "Say that again. I dare you."

Ignoring the fight I wadded my way to the cage. With a click and a creak the metal door was open and before I had a chance to move Nami jumped at me with a big hug. I was shocked at first considering a Nami has never really been one for hugging to often but I quickly got over it and returned the gesture. "It's good to have you back Asa."

I smiled at her and she moved over to talk to Vivi. The next to leave the cage was Ussop who gave me a huge smile and awkwardly held open his arms for a hug as well. I rolled my eyes and gave him one before he moved out of the way.

After Ussop was Zoro. The swordsman tried to walk around me but I wouldn't have it. "Aw come on Zoro, you know you missed me." I teased. He scoffed but gave me an awkward one armed hug anyway.

Next out was Smoker and I gave him a salute to which he returned a half lidded stare.

Then it was Luffy.

We both stopped, our gazes holding the others. His face held no expression and I gulped nervously. He strolled up to me and I had to wonder how he could act so strong despite the fact he was standing almost waist deep in water and he pulled me into a hug that took my breath away. It wasn't the type of hug I'd expect from the boy. It wasn't crushing or awkward, it was strong and secure but tight enough to get the point across that I would never leave him again. I felt like this is where I was supposed to be. This was home.

As quickly as the moment started, it ended with a massive crack of the wall. Without any warning gallons of water smacked into all of us, the last thing I heard before I was completely under was Luffy's order to Zoro to grab Smoker.

Because I still had my arms around Luffy's waist I took the liberty to heave the suddenly very heavy captain out of the water. _Man when they say they become hammers, they aren't kidding!_

I lied down on the street across from Rain Dinners trying to catch my breath as everyone came out of the water. "Man, people with Devil's Fruit abilities sure carry some troublesome risks with them." Sanji complained.

I laughed. "You just wait Sanji…"

The last person to come up was Zoro and he threw Smoker up with him.

"Smoker!? Oi, oi, Zoro! Why'd you rescue the enemy?"

"Shut up! Captain's orders."

"Whatever, let's just get out of here. We lost a big chunk of time. Vivi-chan, can we still make it?" The cook asked.

I stood up and pouted at my sopping wet clothes. While the others dealt with smoker I remembered something.

_That key…_

Wasn't that key supposed to be a fake? Why did it work? Did I somehow change something?

If that was true then… could I change bigger parts of the plot? Was there a way for me to stop Ace from being killed? And Whitebeard? What about the 2 year separation? Is there a way to stop that from happening too?

Thoughts filled my mind at the multiple possibilities. Image all the good I could do! All the pain I could prevent from happening!

I vaguely noticed that we had all turned around and started running. Another urgent thought struck me.

_Where the heck is Alex!? _

**Alex: Yeah, where am I?**

**Asa: I miss my friend! Bring er back already!**

**Ang3l: Relax! She'll show up again next chapter! I'm not done with her just yet;)**

**Alex: Thank goodness... **

**Asa: But she's not joining the Straw Hat's right? So what's gonna happen when she leaves?**

**Ang3l: I plan on keeping Alexandra and Asa in touch, no need to worry. I actually wanted to know if anyone had any idea how Den Den Mushi's work? Is there a number or something involved? If someone could give me a bit of info on them that'd be great:)**

**Until Next Time!**


	14. The Children of The Cradle

**Asa: Well that was sooner then expected.**

**Ang3l: Yeah! I'm pretty proud of myself!**

**Asa: Don't you think that this chapter is... I don't know... a little dark?**

**Ang3l: Yes... but it is a vital chapter to this story so without further delay, please enjoy!**

**Chapter IV**

**The Children of The Cradle**

"Hang on everyone! Let's go!" Chopper yelled. The giant crab we were sitting on took off into the dessert at an incredible speed. My hair blew out of my face and I smiled widely. This was amazing!

I turned to Chopper. "I don't believe we've met before." I said politely. "My name's Asa." I stuck out my hand and shook his tiny hoof. It took so much will power not to glomp the reindeer at how cute he was.

Chopper smiled. "I'm Chopper! So you're Asa? Everyone talks about you a lot." He said innocently. I blushed slightly. _They talked about me?_

Before I could ask a shout caught our attention. We spun around to find Vivi being dragged off the crab by a familiar gold hook. "VIVI!" I ran to the back of the crab, arriving just as Luffy used his powers to switch places with the princess. Speeding up, I jumped into the air, reaching to grab for Luffy but I was stopped by a strong arm wrapping around my waist.

"LUFFY! WAIT! DON'T DO IT!" I screamed desperately. He had to come back. He couldn't win! He's going to get hurt! I kicked and scratched at Zoro's arm but the swordsman didn't so much as flinch.

"You guys go on ahead! I'LL BE FINE BY MYSELF!" Luffy shouted.

My heart almost stopped.

_Lies._

I went slack in Zoro's arms causing him to glance at me in worry. He looked back up to where Luffy disappeared. "That idiot… Chopper! Let's go!"

A mutual understanding passed between the crew and the crab continued on to Alu Zoro put me down so I was lying on my back and I stared up at the sky with emotionless eyes. Zoro waved his hand in front of my face.

"You really shouldn't worry. If Luffy said he's going to be fine then believe him."

I didn't respond. In my head I couldn't help but ask myself why I was talking this so hard when I knew he would be okay in the end. My head told me to stop acting so stupid but… my heart felt like it was breaking in half. Nami looked over at me and frowned.

"What's wrong?" The navigator asked, gaining the rest of the crew's attention.

I ignored their many questions and just kept staring at the quickly passing clouds. It wasn't until Nami grabbed me by the shoulders that I looked her in the eyes.

She gasped at the amount of pain that was buried in my eyes, the loneliness that could have only been gained by experience. "Asa. You need to tell us what's wrong. If you're worried about Luffy, don't be. He'll win. He always does. So what's wrong?" She asked in a calm but insistent tone.

I was silent for a moment.

"I'm psychic."

Two simple words were all it took to cause a tense atmosphere to settle on the group. I rolled over and wrapped my arms around my head, shutting everyone and everything out. Thoughts of Luffy, of Luffy being stabbed by that blasted hook, of Luffy bleeding horrifying amounts of blood, of Luffy being consumed by the dry grainy sand filled my mind and almost brought me to tears. I never had a real friend before, is that why I was so protective of the ones I have now?

_I don't want to be alone anymore._

While I was in my own dark world, the others moved to the other side of the crab to give me space.

"Psychic?" Chopper asked.

Ussop looked over at him. "Yeah, Asa can see the future."

Sanji frowned and took a drag of his cigarette. "When she told us I thought it would be pretty handy, I guess none of us really considered what kind of burden that put on Asa."

"She knows what's going to happen to all of us. What if it's not the brightest future? Asa has to fight through the present while knowing what terrible things might happen later on. It must be horrible." Vivi said sympathetically.

Nami sighed and rested her cheek in her palm. "Still, her reaction to Luffy leaving is what's worrying me. Is he really going to be alright?"

No one could give her an answer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We had finally reached the other side of the Sandora river after a long ride on the crab. Getting across had been difficult but we all made it, we were soaked to the bone – again – but we made it. With a little help from Luffy's disciples of course.

_Luffy…_

I bit my lip in worry. I hadn't said a word to the others for a while now. I knew they were just as worried about Luffy and I was kind of ashamed that I couldn't control my emotions better. The images of Luffy bleeding to death were still clouding my head. What scared me though is that, if I did stay with the Straw Hats then how was I going to react to them getting hurt worse? I knew that this was one of the more severe injuries that Luffy will get but he would get hurt a lot worse in the future. Not to mention the separation. _No. I'll stop that from happening. I am not going to lose them. _

My attention was drawn back to the real world when a group of ducks suddenly ran up to us. "Carue! And the Super Spot-Billed Duck Squad!" Vivi exclaimed.

There were 7 ducks in total, each one wearing a personalized outfit. They came to a stop in front of us and saluted. We got on with no time to spare. I had to share a duck with Nami and we all covered ourselves in white cloaks so we could hide our identities.

Alubarna was just coming into sight when everything went to hell.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up on end and before I had time to react something plowed into my side. A burning pain destroyed my senses as I was thrown off the duck. The group came to a screeching halt as I tumbled across the sand coming to rest on my stomach.

"ASA! What the hell…" I heard Zoro say as he looked over to my attacker. What we saw shocked us all. It was… two little girls. One was older, probably around seven and had long black hair that was tangled and knotted. Her clothes were torn and dirty and her skin white as a sheet. The little girl looked almost like a carbon copy and could have been her twin if it weren't for the obvious age difference. The smaller one looked to be about four. Neither of them wore shoes and the little one was holding the elder's hand and clutching a stuffed rabbit with the other.

Their most striking feature however was their eyes. Both were a pitch black, making them look like empty eye sockets. I shivered. _Was that what I looked like when I used my powers?_

Nami reached for her Clima-tact and I put my hand out to stop her. "Wait, you don't have time. This is my fight. I'll meet you in Alubarna." I got to my feet, ignoring the ache in my side. They just stared at me. "GO! You have to save the country! I can handle this!" I reassured.

They had just started leaving, shooting me looks, warning me to be careful. "We'll meet up with you later!" Ussop said as they took off. Vivi lagged behind.

"You can see the future." She yelled at me. I looked over at her, breaking eye contact with the creepy children. "Tell me it'll be alright. Tell me everything'll work out." She said almost desperately.

I offered her my biggest smile. "I can assure you. You will all be okay when this is over."

Her frown deepened, but I wasn't sure why. Seeing that the children were walking towards me slowly I waved Vivi off. "Now, GO!" Carue raced off after the others.

There I stood in a fighting stance against two children. They stopped a few paces in front of me.

"He is waiting for you."

I took a step back in fear. Not only had both the children spoken in perfect sync but they had the same smooth, echoing voice. _They are really freaking me out._

"W-Who is?" My voice shook making me wonder what exactly was scaring me this badly.

"He is waiting. He is waiting for his Dark Song."

"Who is waiting? Who are you?"

"We are the Children."

"The Children?"

"We are the Children of The Cradle. He is waiting for you."

The Children's eyes began to glow and the elder one raised her free hand. A blade of dark energy formed and shot towards me. I dodged the sudden attack and was surprised when it blew up on the sand behind me. _Okay so, avoid those at all costs._

Multiple attacks were thrown in my direction, I just barely dodged them. "What do you mean by Dark Song?" I asked, trying to get some more information before this went to a full blown fight.

"The Dark Song is what will awaken him. He is hungry. He must feed."

My chest rose and fell violently with each gasp of air. The onslaught of attacks had stopped for a moment giving me a chance to breathe. Deciding to take the offensive I threw my own attack towards the children. At first I thought it had hit them but a voice behind me told me otherwise. _How did they…_

"He is waiting. He is waiting. He is waiting…" They repeated over and over. Three words that rung in my head, sending undeniable fear through my very soul. I trembled, eyes wide.

The children's voices repeated over and over, each time becoming more malicious, more dark, more evil. My heart beat faster than it ever had before, my fight or flight instincts kicking in and leaning more towards flight. "S-Stop it." I whispered desperately, clutching my head. With each blink they were one step closer to me.

_What's happening! Please make it stop! Make the fear stop!_

I screamed and dug my nails into my head.

The world around me seemed to twist and warp. Shapes and images started appearing. I looked over at a very familiar one. It was Luffy. He stood with his arms wide open and that big loveable smile on his face. I looked at him happily, and laughed. _I'm saved!_

I ran to him. I ran as fast as I could. I ran from the horrid Children and from the fear.

At least that's what I thought. Just as I reached Luffy, just as I was about to touch him, his eyes turned to ones of shock, betrayal and surprise. I watched in horror as the colour drained from his face and a trail of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

I tried to reach my hand up to his cheek, I tried to ask him what was wrong, where it hurt. My hand wouldn't move though. It felt heavy as if something was holding it down. I looked down at the limb in wonder, and screamed.

My hand was dug deep into Luffy's stomach, puncturing straight through and coming out the other side. I shook my head quickly. _No, no, no, no, no, no, no! No! I-I wouldn't…. I couldn't!_

Tears poured down my face as I watched the light fade from Luffy's eyes.

_It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. _

_I can't lose someone else. _

_My heart can't take it._

"We can stop the pain. We can stop the fear." The Children spoke. I turned to them, hate, rage, pain, fear, sadness, confusion, loneliness and heart break all shining in my eyes.

When I looked back, Luffy was gone leaving only his blood on my hands that slowly began to fade as well.

_He can't be gone. This can't be… real?_

_…real…_

Logical thought fought through the cloud of depression and self-hatred, breaking to the surface and flooding my mind.

_This can't be real. Luffy was saved by Robin. He can't be here. I didn't kill him. So then that means…_

I growled furiously and spun around to the Children. _They're playing with my head! _

Pure rage was all I felt as I built up a massive amount of energy and fired it at them. They showed no expression as the blast hit the full force. I smiled in sick satisfaction when they flew through the air and smacked the ground. Both Children didn't release each other's hands and moved to get up as if they were one. A black fluid dripped from the younger's mouth.

I ran at them and sent punches left, right and center. Each hit was too quick for the children to do anything. _How dare they. How DARE they! _

Normally it was against my morals to hurt Children but I kept reminding myself that they were not kids. _Kids don't try to mess with peoples fears._

I could tell the children were becoming desperate to get away from me, despite showing no emotions. They formed a shield from the dark energy to block my punches, a power which I had yet to learn. The shield flew towards me and pushed me back. I put my hands in front of me as I was hit with the wall of energy. My feet dug into the sand and I fought to push back against it but didn't have a solid foot hold to work with. The flat surface suddenly shaped into spikes that reminded me of the spike cape that Don Krieg had.

My hands were instantly skewered and I yelled in pain. I quickly jumped out of the way of the shield and rolled to a stop on the ground. Blood dripped down my fingers and I shuddered thinking about Luffy's blood on my hands. I shook the thought away. Now wasn't the time for a break down.

The Children and I exchanged attacks. For the most part they were blocked or dodged but some lucky ones got through.

The next time we stepped back from each other, I was proud to see that the Children were more beat up then I was. Mentally thanking Alexandra for the training, I ran at them again. This time was different though. Before I made it to them I noticed a change.

The elder child's eyes were no longer black but instead a glazed over blue, her hair was slowly fading into a light blonde colour and she had a shocked but happy look on her face. This caused me to falter and I stopped in front of them. The now blonde girl looked up at me and smiled before speaking in a voice similar to before but it was kind and sincere. "Thank you Dark Song! Thank you!"

"Uh… What for?"

"You have freed me! I am forever indebted to you! Thank you!" A small silver tear rolled down her pale cheek. "I can be with my sister again!"

I was just about to reach out to comfort her, not liking when kids cry but I didn't get the chance. The girls skin became lighter and lighter until it was transparent and in no time she faded away as if she had never been there at all. I could only stand there. _What just happened?_

In the back of my mind I noticed that the little girl with the bunny was nowhere to be seen.

Figuring it was better to start heading to Alubarna instead of just standing here, I began walking through the sand once again.

Thoughts of the Cradle and the Children ran through my head. It seemed I have more questions than answers when it came to this whole thing.

_Why did they keep calling me the Dark Song? What did the Cradle want with me? Who was the little blonde girl? Why did the book only give me parts of information at random times? What was with that... vision? Hallucination? _

All of this was becoming very confusing. Mostly that little girl. Was she being controlled? What did she mean when she said that she could be with her sister again? Was she… dead? A soul maybe?

I was so deep into my thoughts that I didn't see two people come running up to me until one called me name.

I looked up at the familiar voice and my eyes widened before I broke into a smile and flung myself at the person. "ALEX!"

The red head laughed and hugged me back. "Hey girl! How've ya been?"

I stepped back and huffed at her. "Where have you been?! I've been worried sick!"

Alex rolled her eyes. "Relax _Mom, _I haven't been far. I actually ran into someone." She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at someone. I looked around her and saw none other than Fire Fist Ace standing there smirking in all his glory. I had to fight off a blush. I haven't been far. I actually ran into someone." She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at someone. I looked around her and saw none other than Fire Fist Ace standing there smirking in all his glory. I had to fight off a blush. _Yep, still hot._

Ace waved at me and walked over. "Nice to see you again." He said politely. I nodded, looking at the ground in embarrassment, remembering the last time we talked.

"Shortly after you were taken I ran into Ace here. He was on his way to continue his search for Whitebeard but I managed to convince him to stick around a bit longer. We snuck into Rain Base and switched out the keys and then we went to the clock tower and took care of the two Baroque agents watching the bomb. We were just leaving when we ran into you." Alexandra explained.

My eyes widened. "Wait, y-you're changing things!" I pulled her away from Ace who just shrugged and walked a little to give us some privacy. "You're changing things!" I said again in a hushed voice.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Yeah so?"

"What do you mean 'yeah so'? This is great!"

"Wh- Oh. Oh no. No. Asa, don't even think about it." She said warningly catching on to what I was implying.

"Think about it Alex. We can stop all the bad things from happening. The crew might not be separated, Ace and Whitebeard could live and there may not be a war! We can stop people from getting hurt!" I tried to explain.

She shook her head. "Listen Asa. You have to be careful when you change things. Some of that has to happen. The crew has to be separated because they weren't ready to enter the New World the way they were then. Dare I say even the war has to happen. That was a huge blow to the World Government as it was."

I looked at her in horror and was just about to protest when she interrupted me. "BUT, I think it will be okay if Ace lives, Luffy won't be hard to convince that he needs the two year training time, especially if he understands his nakama need it. I don't see any problem with saving Ace but Whitebeard might be a different matter." She sighed. "We'll worry about it later though."

I nodded and looked at the ground frowning. She was right, I knew that but it was hard to come to terms with. If I changed something it could have dire consequences.

We walked back over to Ace. A thought occurred to me. "How did you guys get here anyway?" Ace smiled and pointed to a weird sled thing with a sail.

"We ran into some Sand Pirates and they lent us that."

_I am not very observant am I…_

"Well as fun as this has been I believe you have some friends you need to help." Alexandra said. "Me and Ace can walk because we got our supplies already so you can take the sled, you're in a hurry anyway."

I frowned. "Wait, you're leaving? Aren't you going to help the others?"

She shook her head. "They have it covered. Besides I have to look after this guy." She said gesturing to Ace.

"I don't want to run into Luffy either. It would be awkward after my dramatic exit." Ace winked.

I laughed. _I know what that's like._

I suddenly found a weird looking snail shoved in my face. "This is so we can keep in touch. If you need any help or just a chat, give me a call." My friend said smiling.

I smiled at her and took the Den Den Mushi, putting it carefully in my back pack and leaving the zipper open a bit so it could breathe. "So this is goodbye then?" I asked sadly.

She pulled me into a hug. "For now but not forever. I'll see you again." I hugged her tightly back. What was I gonna do without her? It felt so good to be able to talk to her about home and she understood what I was going through. It was going to be hard if I could only call her occasionally.

When released each other and I walked over to Ace. He smiled at me and I gave him a hug too. "Take good care of my brother." I bit my lip, willing myself not to cry. If I screwed this up then this is the last I'll get to see of Ace.

"I will." I said. He was about to pull away but I pulled him back and whispered in his ear. "Being strong doesn't always mean you have to fight the battle. The strength is being mature enough to walk away from the nonsense with your head held high. Remember that."

I turned around before I could see his expression. I quickly hopped on the sled and with Alex's help got it ready to go. When I was all set she gave me one more hug.

"I'll see you soon."

"I'll see you soon." I confirmed. "Don't flirt too much." I warned, giving her a pointed look. She laughed.

"Don't worry, red fire's not my thing. Blue on the other hand…"

I looked at her with wide eyes and she lifted up her left sleeve to show me a simplified version of Whitebeards pirate mark. "Honorary member, you could say."

She moved away from the sled and I grabbed the rope to lift the sail. "Oh! Ace! Take care of yourself!" I said, then added "I want to see you at the wedding!"

Luffy's brother snapped his eyes up to me. "Wait, What wedding!?" He yelled but before he got his answer I shot off with a strong gust of wind, screaming at the sudden speed.

The closer I got to Alubarna, the closer I got to the bloodshed. The darker my thoughts became. All the worries that seemed to disappear when I was with my friends, came back full force when I was alone.

_Strong walls can crack, just like the hardest hearts can break. Cracks are just reminders that you can fall apart no matter how strong you are._

**Asa: NO! ALEX LEFT?! **

**Ang3l: I know! I'm really sorry! I liked Alexandra a lot too! **

**Asa: On another note, this is getting complicated for me isn't it?**

**Ang3l: Yep. Did I also detect you hinting of some feelings for a certain straw hat wearing boy? Something about a Wedding was it?**

**Asa: *Blushes* S-Shut up! Your the author! You made me!**

**Ang3l: I know *Laughs* Any way please let me know what you guys think, it really helps me remember what and what not to do/include in future chapters. I hope you like this so far, thanks to all my loyal readers!**

**Until next time! (I need a better closing...)**


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